Playing With Fire
by Maladicta
Summary: Logan stops to help a girl on the run, but gets more then he bargained for when he discovers the identity of her pursuers. An old enemy is wearing a new face and the Brotherhood are trying to bring about a 'brave new world'. But at what cost? L/OC. PostX1 Now AU.
1. Chapter one

Disclaimer: I don't own the recognizable characters or places mentioned in this obvious work of fiction.

Enjoy and leave feedback if you are so inclined. I'd like some opinions on the new and improved chapters.

Note: Greetings readers, both old and new. During a fit of procrastination, in which I have taken leave of my novel, it has occurred to me that I should work on polishing my old fan fiction. Sometimes the work that you produce at 13 is not quite up to your standards when you're 20 and needs a little bit… more. I've left the original premise as it was, but have altered things such as spelling, grammar, and scene descriptions. The largest change of course, is the main characters name. I was going to leave this be, however the change makes it a lot easier to create her mutant use-name. Also, it gives her something (else) to complain about. I have actually met a Diechen, so Drachen isn't too much of a stretch in my mind

Playing With Fire is set after X1 but before X2. This makes it slightly AU now; however it was started before X2 was released in cinemas.

* * *

Drachen looked around furtively as the run-down convenience store's doors slid shut behind her. With her pockets bulging with 'borrowed' goods she headed straight for the restrooms. The trucker had stopped for fuel a few miles past the last town, and after his hints had lost some of their subtlety Drachen had decided that maybe it was time to find another ride. She just needed a little something to tide her over until that lift came along, and chocolate was just the thing.

Ten minutes later Drachen emerged, refreshed and two cup sizes larger. Candy wasn't the best sort of booster bra, but it would do in a pinch. She leisurely strolled back into the store to try her luck again.

It failed.

Utterly.

"Hey you!" an angry voice demanded from over her left shoulder. Drachen threw a quick look back and started to walk faster. It was the clerk. She'd been made. Wildly scanning the parking lot she searched for an escape route. She got halfway round before her eyes snagged a waiting patrol car. Her entire body froze involuntarily.

This so figures, she thought in exasperation, as she laboriously turned her feet towards the back lot where the big rigs rested.

With pure strength of will Drachen forced herself to start walking again, throwing little glances over her shoulder every now and then and lengthening her stride.

The art of escape, Drachen thought Zen-ly to herself, Is to make it look like you're not actually running.

This super 'escape method' was why she didn't immediately notice when her path was blocked.

Strong hands grabbed her before she hit the ground, which was just as well because the tomatoes hidden in the pockets of her cargos would have been history. Drachen couldn't have moved if she had wanted too, pined as she was between her rescuers arms and his very firm chest. He was taller then her by at least a head, and by the feel of his chest muscles - which she had bounced off in her haste to avoid the clerk, and which she was now resting rather uncomfortably against - apparently made of steel. Drachen tried not to wince.

"Hey!" the shout came from behind her. There was no escape now, with her route firmly blocked by hard muscles, and the way behind closed. Not that she was trying overly hard Drachen admitted to herself "Are you going to pay for those?" the disembodied voice demanded.

Drachen smoothed her face into an innocent expression, the kind her father used to use when mother questioned him about his latest "secretary". That thought caused a brief rush of pain, followed by guilt, but she quashed them immediately, grief and guilt could wait. Drachen turned her head smoothly to face the irate clerk.

"Oh, these?" she took two bars of chocolate out of her pocket "Of course I am, I was just showing them to my…"

"Brother." Her rescuer injected smoothly.

"Boyfriend." Was her panicked response. The clerk did not look amused.

"Well which is it? Boyfriend or brother?" The clerk demanded. Drachen gave a nervous giggle. She could feel her rescuers hands tighten on her arms.

"Well, it's both actually." Drachen began, ready, as always, with an elaborate lie "He's my step-brother really, and we've run away from our family to get married because our parents didn't approve of our love." A modern day Romeo and Juliette they were. Honest. Drachen tried to inject as much sincerity as possible into her voice, but it sounded lame, even to her.

The clerk hadn't moved, though he did cross his arms. Drachen elbowed her rescuer, and slid fully round to face the clerk, though she kept her back pressed firmly against his chest and he didn't let go of her arms. She turned her best megawatt grin on the clerk.

"Pay the man… dearest." she hissed out of the corner of her mouth. After some shuffling, during which time Drachen didn't dare take her eyes off the clerk, the correct amount of bills were dutifully handed over. The clerk took them with a 'humph' and stalked back towards the unattended store. Drachen sagged back against the chest of the guy who had rescued her, her hero. Almost like Superman – pecs of steel and all that. Taking a deep breath she began-

"Thank you, so much I-" The guy she had started thinking of as Super-Romeo-Charming firmly stood her back on her feet and returned to loading up his motorbike, which Drachen, in her previous state of self-interested self-absorption, hadn't noticed. She tried again "Hey, that's a really cool bike is it-?" but She didn't have a chance to get any further.

"'Scuse me." her rescuer said politely, brushing past her and heading back into the store.

Drachen watched as the doors closed on his silhouette, and then glanced around the parking lot. It was getting late, or early depending on how you looked at it. The early morning truckers had all gassed up and left, heading out on their routs that would take them deep into the night before they stopped again. The few locals that were here all looked to be getting off some sort of night shift, so the odds of getting a lift out a town from any of them looked to be slim to none. Drachen thought of the small pile of dwindling bills in her left boot. Not enough for a hotel room to sleep the day away. She doubted the small bundle would have covered what she'd stolen from the convenience store. Drachen shivered as she felt the wind pick up in the early morning light. She needed to make a decision, because she couldn't stay here.

When her knight in slightly tarnished amour that cunningly resembled motorcycle leathers returned Drachen was waiting. Without giving him a chance to speak she launched her attack.

"You have to take me with you, I know I don't know you very well, or really at all, but I can tell from your wonderful personality that you're a great guy." She entreated desperately. Her rescuer regarded her through tired eyes.

"No, I don't have to take you with me," he placed a couple more things under the seat and began to check the saddlebags in preparation for departure.

"Yes you do! It would blow our cover if we left separately." Drachen protested somewhat shrilly. Her man of steel lowered the seat and mounted the bike.

"Listen kid. I don't know what you're thinking, but let me tell you this. We have no cover. I paid for what you stole, though now I'm starting the wish I hadn't, and that's the end of it."

Oh yeah? Drachen thought, bristling slightly at the insinuation that she was no older then sixteen. She waited patiently with a smirk on her lips as he reached for the ignition.

"Where the hell are my keys?" he demanded, tiredness suddenly replaced by irritation. His muttonchops were bristling. Still smirking, Drachen gave a sigh a Southern Belle would have envied and stepped back from the bike and its rider.

"You know, I think you're right. I have been naive in thinking that you would take a complete stranger anywhere. Especially one in such dire straits as myself." She gave a cheshire grin, "So I'll just go." Drachen pulled one of the tomatoes she had pilfered earlier from a pocket in her cargoes and began eating it like an apple. She turned and began to head towards the highway, but she hadn't gotten two feet before her rescuer called out.

"Wait." With a smile she turned and looked expectantly at the figure. His hair was practically drooping. "How far are you going?"


	2. Chapter two

Disclaimer: I don't own the recognizable characters or places mentioned in this obvious work of fiction.

Enjoy and leave feedback if you are so inclined. I'd like some opinions on the new and improved chapters.

* * *

Logan could tell the girl was trouble with a capital 'T' as soon as he saw her skulk out of the store. The fact that the clerk emerged immediately after her yelling his head off just reaffirmed his assumption. She wasn't bad looking, if you liked scruffy and unwashed, encased in leather and canvas. But Logan had learned a long time ago that trouble often looked most attractive right before it hit you.

His mind told his…smaller mind that he was not getting involved, it agreed completely.

So he was somewhat surprised to find himself coming to her rescue when the irate store clerk bailed her up.

And now the conniving little minx had stolen his bike keys. The past few days on the road must have been catching up with him, because he found himself agreeing to give her a lift in exchange for the safe return of the keys, which were his anyway. Logan just couldn't fathom it.

…

Drachen told herself firmly as she got on behind Prince Charming with a Serious Attitude Problem that she was not going to put her hands around his waist. Who knows where he'd been! Or what he'd think – she really didn't need to lose another ride to 'miscommunication'.

"You might want to hold on," he rumbled as he started the bike.

As if, Drachen thought with a spike of annoyance, I'll use the seat as an anchor, thank you very much. The guy was acting like she'd never been on a bike before. Which, granted – they'd just met - but whatever.

As soon as the bike roared to life Drachen changed her mind. Perhaps this bike was a little bigger then some of the road bikes she'd been on previously, and it now seemed a lot bigger then the brand name dirt bike they'd used at the holiday house.

This is not a regular bike, Drachen concluded as the bike roared to life beneath her body. Getting a firmer hold around the Prince's middle and gripping with her knees Drachen managed to stay on as the bike left the parking lot. Just.

Logan was half afraid the girl was going to squeeze him to death when she grabbed him as the bike started up; he was surprised when after a few seconds she took a less constricting grip and resettled her weight on the seat.

Girl's done this before, he thought with a small amount of approval as they left the lot behind.

Drachen sighed to herself somewhat melodramatically. Conversation was impossible at this speed. As soon as the words were out of her mouth they were stolen away by the wind. After three attempts she gave up and tried to protect her hair from getting too tangled. She'd tucked it into her jacket before she'd climbed on, but the wind had whiped it free within moments and it was streaming behind her like a banner, tendrils wiping stingingly across her face.

She thought longingly of the first Rig she'd been in. Trevor the trucker had carried her across three states before they'd parted ways. He'd been a good man, and the first one she hadn't been able to manipulate with her not insubstantial charms. Later that night she'd seen him go off with another guy, a long hall trucker, which had made her smile a little in understanding. Life was hard on the road, she'd found out first hand, and you took what comfort you could wherever you could find it. She'd been so lucky to end up riding with Trev, and not just because she hadn't been on his 'radar'. He'd given her somewhere safe to sleep and company true, but he'd also introduced her to Rodney, or 'Randy Red' as the boys called him. For two beers, a packet of pretzels, and a quick grope that Drachen was sure Trev didn't know about, he'd let her grab whatever clothes had been left under the 'bed' in the cabin of his truck. Turned out Randy led an interesting nightlife, with women, men, and possibly a Furry or two. After laundering her armfuls of clothing, and throwing out most of what was left, she had managed to find herself a small wardrobe. Nothing in comparison to what she once had, but enough so she had a change of clothes and a few extra shirts which she mostly wore in layers. For a while her extra's had been kept in a small satchel she'd carried over her shoulder, but it had been stolen one night in some dive bar. That was another reason why she now wore all of her clothes; it was harder for people to steal things when you had them on.

Drachen's thoughts were interrupted when some form of unidentified bug bounced off her shoulder. She shuddered and hunched closer to the warm back that was shielding her body from the majority of the wind, already regretting her current mode of transportation.

….

A good few hours later Logan decided to pull over for gas. The little roadside gas station they pulled into was the most modern he'd seen so far, in that it looked like it had been built in the seventies.

"We're stopping for gas, and maybe some food," he stated, taking a couple of crumpled bills from his jacket pocket, as Drachen tried to tame the rats nest that her hair had become. Her scarlet curls were snagged and knotted, and she even had hair caught in her zipper, which she was in the middle of battling with when he walked over.

"Go get yourself something to eat." He said, pushing the bills into her hands. Drachen regarded the bills with suspicion, but took them all the same, not one to look a paying gift biker in the wallet. Even a nameless one.

"And don't forget to pay for the gas," Logan called back of his shoulder as he headed for the pumps, while the girl started walking towards the pay station.

Browsing through items she no longer wanted or needed Drachen noticed a T.V screen bolted precariously to the wall. It was obviously a recent addition to the station's decor. Her attention was drawn by the breaking news story streaming across the screen.

/Now, more then six months after the fire that tragically took the lives of Senator McCarthy and his family, New York City Police have finally been able to positively identify two of the three bodies found in the gutted shell of the Senator's home/

On the screen was a picture of the family at some charity benefit, which was quickly replaced by an image of a once impressive family home.

/It is assumed that the third body is that of their teenage daughter Drachen. But test results confirming this are still pending/

A school picture was shown of a smiling red headed girl, curls pinned severely close to her skull and dressed conservatively in a navy school blazer.

/Sources reveal that the fire burned with such ferocity that even using dental records the police have experienced delays in identification. Senator McCarthy, who was one of the firmest of Senator Kelly's supporters, has…/

Drachen let the rest of the report fade out, the reporters voice turning into a dull buzzing in her ears. She could feel her chest tightening as her breath started constricting in her lungs. Quickly she made her way to the counter, snagging some ties for her hair and some snacks on her way. She paid for the jerky, nuts and gas and then stumbled, pale and shaking, outside. Her breath now coming in ragged gasps Drachen staggered towards a low bench. A suffocating pain caused her to clutch futilely at her chest, her bag full of snacks falling to her feet. The panic attack was coming swift and sure and this time she wouldn't be able to stave it off. The careful fabrication her mind had created was starting to fracture, reality was returning as her false memories disappeared like smoke in the wind.


	3. Chapter three

Disclaimer: I don't own the recognizable characters or places mentioned in this obvious work of fiction.

Enjoy and leave feedback if you are so inclined. I'd like some opinions on the new and improved chapters.

* * *

Oh shit, they're gunna kill me, oh shit, they're gunna kill me… the mantra was stuck on repeat as Drachen tried to imagine her parent's reaction to the news that she had just been expelled from the private school they'd recently paid a years worth of tuition, upfront, to get her into.

It wasn't even as if it was my fault, Drachen thought angrily to herself, _She_ started it, I just finished it. None of this would have happened in the first place if that preppy bitch had just kept her mouth shut! Drachen fumed silently as she trudged home from school for what would be the last time. She just knew that she was going red, which didn't help her mood any. Her mother was always saying she had a temper to match her hair, before reminding her serenely that it would be her downfall. Her mother could afford to be serene with the amount of Valium she downed with her morning vodka, Drachen thought cuttingly, Us lesser people have to rely on our self control. Another trait Drachen wasn't known for.

With a growl Drachen took a swipe at an unlucky hedge that had the tenacity to be almost in her way. She could feel the anger coiling in her stomach like a snake ready to strike, or a dragon that would only be placated by burning its fury across the land. Drachen took a swipe at another unfortunate bush as she turned into the gate. Continuing up the drive she pushed through the hedge, heading around the side of the house towards the kitchen entrance. Her mother had requested on numerous occasions that she use the front entry so as not to give guests the wrong impression, but Drachen couldn't see the point when she generally ended up in the kitchen anyway. It was their house after all, so in her mind she could enter anywhere she god damn pleased. She paid no mind to the black vans parked in the rear drive; assuming that her mother had organized another 'social' party with some of the other boozed up Country Club wives. They were always over catered. Drachen almost froze at the sudden realization that both her parents were home from their respective jobs today, a rare occurrence, but one that seemed to have serendipitously aligned with the day of her expulsion. Despite her misgivings her anger carried her forward into the kitchen.

Drachen walked into the room… and entered Hell.

Five men were spaced out across the room, covering all the exits, she couldn't see their faces, no matter how hard she tried, they stayed stubbornly blank. Her parents were standing by the kitchen counter; her father was leaning against the island of marble and trying to stop her mother's crying. Drachen almost screamed when she felt the barrel of a gun shoved into her lower back as its wielder propelled her across the room to stand with her parents. The anger that had carried her home turned instantly to fear. Her hands were pulled behind her back and tied tightly with thick cord. They brought in chairs; the new Victorians' Drachen recalled distantly, her mother had just purchased them at an estate sale. She and her parents were roughly sat down and tied securely.

Her father was yelling, Mother was crying. Drachen was frozen. Eyes fixed on the guns that were pointed towards them. Slides were drawn back as a man with white hair entered…

A single shot rang out and her father, who was sitting to her right, went silent, her mother… Drachen felt warm liquid running down the side of her face. She kept her eyes fixed firmly ahead, focused unwaveringly on the second hand of the kitchen clock ticking relentlessly forward refusing to think about what had just occurred… What it could mean...

Her mother wasn't crying anymore.

The white hared man was talking, something about a Bill, some sort of Registration Act. Her father started shouting again; the veins across his temples were pulsating. The white haired man was growing angry, but not like her father, who was all bluster and puff. His was a cold anger, an emotion that seemed to burn beneath his skin.

Sounds had been fading in and out for a while now; the steady drip of the leaking tap that her father swore would be fixed by the weekend… each and every weekend. The sound of the birds in the ornamental fruit trees they kept in the courtyard. Snatches of conversation, growing more heated by the second. Drachen's skin was stinging…

A small part of Drachen expected the next shot, now both sides of her face were dripping with liquid, but a larger part was completely shocked, frozen and broken and wholly unable to deal with the reality of the death of both her parents. Rage, made up of anger and fear, seized her, the beast inside uncoiled…

Just before she felt the bullet punch through her chest, her rage exploded outwards and the world became an inferno…

…..

Drachen came back to herself slowly, her breathing loosening and her vision returning. Someone had sat across from her on the bench, was talking to her. But Drachen was deaf to the conversation, her mind caught up in her memories.

Three bodies. There were only three bodies, Drachen thought, heart constricting painfully. There had been nine people in the house that day, nine people and so many guns. Who owns the third body? Drachen wondered. I'm alive, so who owns the third body? The white haired man and his friends must have gotten out, or they would have found more bodies, without realizing it, a previously unacknowledged pressure eased. She hadn't killed anyone with… that thing that happened. She wasn't a murderer…or anything else either. But who owns the third body? Drachen's mind turned over alternative possibilities. Someone put another body in there, a body that's supposed to be me. But why? When the answer came to her, Drachen wished it hadn't.

I suppose, if I'm already dead…who's going to care if I die again?


	4. Chapter four

Disclaimer: I don't own the recognizable characters or places mentioned in this obvious work of fiction.

Enjoy and leave feedback if you are so inclined. I'd like some opinions on the new and improved chapters.

* * *

Logan found the girl around the corner sitting at a picnic bench. She looked awful, her face was chalk white and she was shaking, arms crossed across her chest and hands clutching her shoulders.

"Hey kid, you okay?" He asked. Getting no response he tried again "Kid, you okay?" Logan was about to try a third time when Drachen came to herself,

"Yeah, I'm fine," she whispered raggedly, slowly uncurling her fingers and dropping her arms. Her eyes slid around the parking lot. She noted the number of cars and the maximum amount of occupants they could hold, she especially noted their plates, her mind filing the information away for future reference.

"So what's your name anyway?" Logan asked, trying to fill the silence. He was answered with a bitter laugh

"Jane Doe," Drachen said with a twisted grimace that was supposed to resemble a smile.

Well if that's how you want it, Logan thought, exasperated.

"What about you, hmm? I want to know what to call my future husband."

"Thought I was your brother?" Logan queried, amused "It's Wolverine."

"Oh you've got to be kidding me. At least mine was human." Drachen shot back. Logan had to smile at that; this was the second girl who'd gotten one up on him in the names department.

"It's Logan," he answered, quirking his lip. Drachen smiled,

"The name's Drachen, but call me Drake." Logan quirked an eyebrow "'Drake', isn't that a guy's name?" He asked,

"Yeah well, it's better then the alternative, okay? My mom was addicted to romance novels and vampire movies when she was pregnant," Not to mention Prozac, Drachen thought to herself.

"So… Drake," Logan started. "Where you heading?" Drachen gave Logan a small smile, for the first time contemplating where she was running too, rather then what she was running from. She shrugged noncommittally

"I don't know," she answered slowly "Quebec? Alaska? Greenland?"

"That far, huh?" Logan answered, tying to picture the small girl before him surviving in the frontier towns that had been his home for most of his remembered life.

A black van entered the parking lot and Drachen's head snapped round. Forgetting the conversation with Logan entirely she started scrutinizing the van. Looks like it could seat a few, New York plates, Drachen shivered imperceptibly as she began her analysis, wishing fervently that she could remember their faces. It felt like her skin wanted to crawl off her bones; straight into the dark hole that was her memory of most of that day. Still, no one got out. Acting on a gut instinct Drachen twisted her hair into a knot and shoved it beneath her jacket, hunching her shoulders and slouching forward over the table.

Go away, don't stop, go away, don't stop… the mantra began running through her mind.

…

Logan became aware the minute the conversation ceased, Drake had gone ramrod straight and the hand that gripped the table sported knuckles gone blue-white with strain. Logan could see she was scared, no, not scared, she was terrified.

No one was getting out of the van, which seemed suspicious enough to Logan to merit covert study. Movement from across the table caught Logan's eye. Drachen was knotting her hair and quickly shoving it down the back of her worn leather jacket and slumping across the table. She had very striking hair; Logan admitted to himself somewhat against his will. She wasn't the fiery colour of so many redheads, nor a deep auburn like Jean, but a fresher, rawer colour, closer to a true crimson. She had wild soft curls rather then waterfall strait hair and when the light hit it, her hair almost seemed to burn. Logan felt a stab of pain at the thought of Jean, followed by the slow burn of jealousy. Jean, beautiful Jean, who'd made him love her, then chosen someone else. He would have given her everything, not that his everything could compare to that privileged puppy's, but he would have tried.

What seemed like an eternity later the van reversed out of the lot and continued along the road. As soon as it left Drachen visibly relaxed, fingers uncurling and body straightening up.

"Friends of yours?" Drachen jumped. She turned wary, fearful eyes on him, trying to assess who he really was, and what kind of answer he wanted from her.

"No, just paranoia." Drachen answered warily, wishing it was as easy to believe as it was to say.

"I'm beginning…" Logan started; Drachen cut that sentence off before it could start.

"If you're finished," She tipped her head towards the bike, "Would you mind if we left?" As much to put her mind at ease as to get back on the road again Logan agreed.

….

Logan carelessly dropped the keys to the bike on the small beat-up motel table. With a loud sigh he threw himself down on the bed, setting his hands behind his head and toeing off his boots. The military complex Dr. Xavier had directed him too had been abandoned all right.

Must have prized up the walls to take with them, he thought in annoyance, Penny pinching bastards.

This trip was just another dead end in the maze of his hidden past and the thought of going back to New York empty handed riled him. Movement in the small bathroom brought his attention back to the present. He watched as the mildew-flecked door swung open, billowing steam. Logan gazed appreciatively at the figure absently battling with her hair. The girl, well young woman really, looked to be in her early twenties though he hadn't investigated her age too thoroughly, and appeared oblivious to his presence. Logan smirked appreciatively as he caught another glimpse of creamy flesh.

She really is quite the looker, he mused to himself.

Not the normal sort of woman he associated with of course, he was more used to barfly-blonds and women whose idea of a good time seemed to be following the cage fighting circuit, and all the activities that entailed. She was thinner then he usually liked though, a few too many missed meals making her feminine features more pixie like then he guessed they originally were. All of a sudden she seemed to realize she had an audience as she dropped her arms. Logan smoothed out his features and tried to pretend he hadn't noticed the way her breasts had moved under her thin cotton top. He watched as she looked around the room in confusion

"There's only one bed," Drachen stated, confused.

"That's right," Logan agreed amicably "You've got a choice of the couch, the bed, or the floor. I don't really care which you take, but just know if you snore I'll douse you in cold water quicker then you can spit," Drachen looked at the reclining figure on the bed in alarm, eyes wide. Seeing her unease Logan took pity on the girl. "Look Drake, your virtues' safe with me, but if you want another bed, you pay for another room." He could see the girl swallow nervously, but she moved resolutely towards the bed. Hanging her jacket and cargo's over the back of one of the two faux cane chairs she joined him on the bed, though she kept a marked distance between their two bodies.

Drachen's eyes snapped open in the darkness, her body frozen while her mind, still bound up in the nightmare, screamed in terror. She had dreamed of fire, fire and men burning. Drachen could feel her chest clench painfully as she dragged in gulp after gulp of life giving air. Her heart was pounding a tattoo in her chest and her tank and shorts were soaked in sweat. Slowly her breathing calmed and became more even. As she began to relax Drachen realized that the weight pinning her body to the bed wasn't in her dreams. Instead somehow during the night Logan's arm had snaked across her chest. Far from being disturbed Drachen was oddly comforted by the feel of another human being close by, especially after her most recent nightmare. She had just started berating herself for this thought when she inadvertently drifted back to sleep.


	5. Chapter five

Disclaimer: I don't own the recognizable characters or places mentioned in this obvious work of fiction.

Enjoy and leave feedback if you are so inclined. I'd like some opinions on the new and improved chapters.

* * *

Drachen looked up as Logan placed two beers in the middle of their small table. They were killing time in a small pool-hall bar Logan had spotted when they were cruising through town. After picking up the keys to another budget room they'd headed back in search of dinner and in Logan's case, beer. Drachen had noticed over the last few days that Logan didn't really seem to be heading anywhere in particular, which was fine with her. The more they moved around randomly, the less likely anyone was to find her, not that she thought anyone was looking for her or anything like that. But just in case they were…

Reaching forward she snagged one of the beers in front of her. Beer was not one of her favorite drinks, but if someone else was buying she sure as hell wasn't going to complain about the choice of alcohol. Logan was leaning back in his stool contentedly, back to the wall, as he surveyed the rest of the inhabitants of the bar whilst inhaling the complementary bar-nuts.

The place itself had seen better days, with faded movie posters proclaiming the must see blockbusters of yesteryear covering the cracks in the walls. A sagging stage held pride of place, topped by a drum kit that could have been vintage if it wasn't so old. Despite the obvious lack of grandeur, the bar was well populated with locals and blow-throughs alike. Drachen took this as a good sigh. Bars like this one were generally casual on the I.D's and easy on the wallet. Drachen ever thought there might be some pool tables hidden at the back of the room near the jakes.

Sighing she looked down at the table and began to doodle on the faded wood with the condensation from her beer. She'd had another nightmare last night, though she could barely remember it now. Just flames, panic and suffocating fear. It had made her mood today positively acidic and she'd found herself unintentionally snapping at Logan more then once. The evening had found them, not avoiding each other, but definitely quieter then usual as they contemplated their own thoughts.

Drachen looked up to find her almost empty beer replaced by a cold one. She was surprised to find that she'd already polished off two others. Logan smiled at her across the table

"You running a temp Drake?" He asked teasingly, "'Cause you're burning through those beers like they're water." He smirked, and then gave an exaggerated leer. "A little girl like you should be more careful," Drachen found herself laughing at his comment in spite of her mood

"Now Logan," she scolded, "You should know not to judge people on face value. I could be a fish for all you know. An I'm definitely not a little girl," she reminded him, somewhat tired of the 'kid' references. Logan's lips quirked slightly at her heated denial "Well then Darlin'," he rumbled with a dark smile. "Care to show me just how much of a woman you are?" Drachen quirked a brow at the challenge

"What exactly did you have in mind?" she queried with a luscious grin. Logan returned her broad grin with one of his own.

"How about a little game of pool?" he said.

Logan looked up at the beer Drachen was offering him. He wasn't drunk, no, but he was getting a little…fuzzy on a few things. Like just how many beers he'd had so far, and how someone who had professed to have little to no knowledge of pool was somehow six games up and had cheated him out of over 300 bucks. Cheated... That was it… Logan accepted the beer with a grin and set it behind him where he thought a table used to be. He reached out and pulled Drachen against him, using her belt for leverage. Looking down at her and grinned

"Why do I got the feelin' that you," he lifted a finger to poke her in the chest, attempting to enunciate the point "Are sharkin' me," Drachen smiled up at him

"'Cause I am," She answered sweetly slipping her hand into his back pocket. Logan growled and pulled Drachen more firmly against his chest. Drachen let out a small [moan] in return, the combination of alcohol and good company conspiring to lower her inhibitions. With a smirk she looked into Logan's eye and licked her lips

"Logan," Drachen whispered huskily, watching as he swallowed heavily "Can I tell you something?" she asked, raising herself higher on her tiptoes. Drachen leaned forward and nuzzled Logan's neck before whispering in his ear

"You owe me six hundred dollars."

Drachen tried to hide a wince as she left the convenience store, the morning sunlight feeling like knives were being driven into her skull. She grimaced delicately at the bitter taste of her morning after orange juice, and felt like her mother for downing more then the prescribed quantity of painkillers on the packet. Drachen handed Logan a bottle of cola and his requested jerky as she removed a pair of dark sunglasses from inside her jacket.

"New shades?" Logan asked, looking disgustingly cheerful and unaffected after the previous nights efforts

"Yeah, got 'em at a discount,' Drachen said with a smile, leaning over Logan and checking on her reflection in the bikes' wing mirror. Logan frowned

"You've got money," he reminded her.

"Oh, I know. This is just more fun," Drachen said "You now what I don't get though?" she asked, sliding into the seat behind Logan. "I had to drag your sorry ass back to the motel last night after you passed out at the bar - and let me just say for the record, you're fucking heavy," She grimaced as she took a breath "Anyway, I don't get how someone who only a few hours ago couldn't even say their name, is now bouncing around like an advert for Tylenol." Logan smiled at her over his shoulder.

"What can I say?" he said with a shrug. "Some girls just can't hold their liquor."


	6. Chapter six

Disclaimer: I don't own the recognizable characters or places mentioned in this obvious work of fiction.

Enjoy and leave feedback if you are so inclined. I'd like some opinions on the new and improved chapters.

* * *

"So… thanks for the lift." Logan glanced over at the dingy bar, and then looked at Drachen, cocking a brow. They'd pulled into the truck stop just after dark, and the area around the stop wasn't the best.

Logan cleared his throat, "Drake, you sure you want me to drop you off here? I think there's a town twenty miles up the road it'd sure be-" Drachen cut him off with a smile.

"I'll be fine, really," she reassured "Thanks for the concern Logan, but I'm good. Can't stick with ya forever now can I?" She asked sardonically "I got some stuff to do here, you know, pool to shark, people to do. Thanks for the ride." she said as she leant forward and pressed a quick kiss to his cheek before turning away.

As Drachen walked towards the bar she unwound her hair and took off her jacket, shaking out her locks as best she could. She unbuttoned the faded collared shirt she was wearing and pulled the drawstrings on her singlet tighter, minus the stolen food her breasts rose slightly. Not exactly candy-licious, but certainly enough for a sweet tooth. Smoothing her hands down the sides of her cargos and giving her hair a final shake she pushed open the door of the bar.

Logan spent a total of about four seconds telling himself that it was none of his business before cursing loudly and parking the bike. With a sigh at his own stupidity he followed Drake into the bar.

Drachen could feel every eye in the place zero in on her as she entered the room. Compared to the last few bars she and Logan had been haunting it was small and badly lit, but beggars couldn't choose their meals, so she threw off her misgivings and continued forward with her plan. Smiling broadly she made her way to the bar where an older man who wouldn't have been out of place in a lumber camp was wiping up glasses. Leaning over so he could get a good look at her cleavage Drachen told him what she was after.

"Hi-ya. I was a wonderin' if ya'all had any idea of where I could acquire me some protection." She gave her eyelashes a flutter "See, I just gone and broke up wit' my boyfriend and I was wantin' somethin' that would make a him think a twice before comin' back again?" Drachen gave a smile "I can pay." She offered sweetly, trying to look vulnerable, men liked that, right? She figured she was presenting the perfect package, attractive, single, a female in trouble and in need of male protection...

"What exactly are you looking for… Miss?" asked the bartender. Drachen noticed that he was having trouble speaking as he watched the rise and fall of her cleavage. Hell, if push came to shove she'd fuck her way to owning a gun. This was a bad part of town though, surely someone would be willing to off load a hot unregistered weapon.

"Well sir, I was a hope'n for a firearm of some description, if that's possible?" Drachen fluttered.

"Oh it's possible honey," said a voice by her ear. It took all the self-control Drachen possessed not to whirl around, scream, and strike out. Instead she turned smoothly to confront what seemed to be a bearded gorilla. From somewhere Drachen dredged up a smile.

"Really?" she asked breathlessly

"Really honey, you just come out back to my truck and I'll fix you right up."

Drachen tried to ignore the sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach as she followed him out the back door of the bar. She needed this, she reminded herself resolutely. She needed it. Just in case.

….

Logan walked into the bar just as Drachen walked out the back door. Figuring she was sorting out her 'business', what ever that could be, he sat at the bar and waited for her to come back inside. The girl was really getting to be a handful, and once again Logan asked himself why he was there, nosing after a problem after it had so neatly taken itself of his hands. Just stupid, I guess he sighed to himself as he ordered a beer.

…

The sinking feeling was getting worse, especially when it turned out that the guy's truck was parked at the back of the lot. As soon as they left the light cast by the single bulb above the back door he grabbed her. Drachen hadn't heard Logan's bike leave and she prayed he was still here, though she had no right to expect another rescue. Taking a deep breath Drachen screamed as loudly as she could, before a hand reached around and covered her mouth.

Logan was clear of the bar stool and heading towards the door before Drachen had a chance to draw breath for a second scream. But Logan hadn't bargained on the opposition. A group of guys who resembled wrestlers got up to restrain him. Those that didn't headed out back to join in the 'fun'.

With a muffled growl Drachen clamped her teeth down hard on the fingers covering her mouth and nose while struggling to get free of the arms that were holding her captive. Drachen felt the ties binding her singlet tear open as another patron grabbed for her breasts. Kicking back Drachen tried to get loose again, but all she got was laughter.

With a growl Logan unsheathed the blades that were housed in his forearms. The drinkers backed off a little, but not much. Drachen had started screaming again, and the pure terror in those screams was causing Logan to lose control…

Panic seized Drachen's mind as a blow from behind threw her into the waiting arms of yet another assailant. She fell back into memory, though her body kept fighting…

….

Five men were spread across the room, covering all the exits; she recognized them. As she should. They had only been protecting her family for the last three years. Her parents were standing by the center bench; Father was trying futilely to stop Mother's crying.

Drachen felt the barrel of a gun shoved into her lower back making her cry out; it prodded her across the room. Dan, the bodyguard that had escorted her to her first dance, tied her hands tightly behind her back with thick cord. They brought in chairs and sat her and her parents in them, tying them securely.

Her father was yelling, Mother was crying.

Drachen continued to stare, first in shock, and then in growing anger at the faces of the people she had trusted the most. Their eyes were cold, their mouths hard. They weren't the same people she had known yesterday. Drachen could feel herself start to shake.

A man with white hair entered…

Suddenly a shot rang out, her father who was sitting to her right, went silent, her mother…

Drachen felt warm blood running down the left side of her face. Mother had stopped crying and Drachen could feel her skin beginning to burn…

The white haired man was talking, something about a Bill of Registration, the word 'mutant' caught her attention. Father started shouting again; the veins across his temples were pulsating. The white haired man was growing angry; his eyes were flashing a peculiar shade of yellow…

Sounds had been fading in and out for a while now, the steady drip of a leaking tap, snatches of conversation... A small part of Drachen expected the next shot, now both sides of her face were dripping blood and gore.

"Pity, we could have used him." said the white haired man as he started to morph; a blue skinned woman with bright red hair replaced him, bleeding out from underneath his skin.

Shock prevented Drachen from screaming in terror, but only just. Fear, made up of a combination of anger and hate, washed through her. Her entire body burned with it. She saw the sudden fear in Dan's eyes, as he trained his service pistol on her from the other side of the room, saw his eyes widen, whites glowing in the afternoon gloom as her hair became a mane of flame. Drachen felt the ropes disintegrate and her hands become free as she stood. She heard distantly the echo of a shot. The world became an inferno…

….

Drachen was jerked back to the present when a shattering pain in her back dropped her to her knees. Her head spun as her vision started to darken. An involuntary cry was torn from her lips.

Logan was aware the moment Drachen's screams changed in pitch. Despite unsheathing his claws, he'd managed to incapacitate most of the patrons rather then kill them. Logan had learned that a cracked skull was a lot more likely to heal then a slit throat, less likely for the cops to get involved as well. Kicking a chair out of his path, Logan ran towards the back door.

Almost without her control Drachen felt the dragon inside her uncoil. Almost unconsciously she reached for the flames that had saved her once before. Like a wounded animal, cornered and driven mad with pain she used the only weapon she had left. Fiery teeth fanned by fear and strengthened by panic roared out from her hands. Throwing out her arms Drachen was instantly surrounded by a wall of heat.

Just as Logan reached for the door handle a wall of roasting air hit his skin, stealing the breath from his lungs and leaving him gasping. The air was so hot he was forced to stagger backwards to escape the heat. The doorknob was cherry red, and the paint on the walls had started to bubble. Suddenly the door exploded inwards and Drachen stumbled into the room through and arch of flame, clothes ripped and torn, and fire following in her wake. Without thinking Logan grabbed her by one of her wildly flailing hands and pulled her out of the burning building.

As Logan wrapped his arms around the dazed girl and started the bike he looked down at the fading blisters on his palm, and he wondered.


	7. Chapter seven

Disclaimer: I don't own the recognizable characters or places mentioned in this obvious work of fiction.

Enjoy and leave feedback if you are so inclined. I'd like some opinions on the new and improved chapters.

* * *

The night air revived Drachen somewhat, enough for her to hear the explosion just before they rounded the side of the mountain. Her side was a conglomerate of pain, causing small panting moans to escape her throat with each bend the bike took. Logan heard the small whimpers escaping her lips and glanced down at Drachen in concern. Her forehead was beaded with sweat, her skin felt like it was on fire, and her eyes were glazed with pain. All of her energy seemed focused on holding tight to Logan's chest and staying awake. Making sure she was pulled up tightly against him, Logan reached down and pushed a small the button to the right of the headlights. He was trading stealth for speed, which was a risk, but he had a sinking feeling that Drachen was going to need medical treatment. Treatment that wasn't going to come from the small med-pack he kept under the seat.

Doctor Fosters raised his eyes as the door of the small surgery crashed open. The glass, which proclaimed the surgery opening hours, shattered against the wall. It wasn't the man that carried the red haired young woman in his arms that caused him to pause, more the fact that he was sure that he had dead bolted that door not twenty minuets before hand.

"You the doctor?" The gruff man demanded; white singlet stained with soot and blood.

"Yes I am. But we're closed at this time of night." The stooped old man protested. Logan used a foot to slam the glass-less door closed

"Not any more." He said menacingly.

…..

"Well she is extremely lucky, whoever hit her could have snapped her spine. But the…" He adjusted his glasses and rubbed his tired eyes, before continuing "Board, I'm guessing, hit her on an angle, it's cracked three ribs on the right side and she has extensive bruising. She'll be a very sore young woman when she wakes up." He turned to the bristling, soot covered man as he filled a syringe with local anesthetic, preparing to stitch a cut that ran along her hairline. "And you have no idea how this happened?"

"Nope. No idea." Logan said, the easy denial rolling off his tongue.

"Pity." The old doctor said, continuing to place miniscule stitches along the girls scalp "The police would definitely have something to say about this kind of assault. Now, when she wakes up she will experience some discomfort as the anaesetic wears off. She's not to undertake any strenuous exercise for at least three weeks." Doctor Fosters took in Logan's tired eyes and wondered how long the couple had been on the run. The young woman was thin, too thin really, and the man had a wariness about him that spoke volumes.

"I want to keep her in overnight for observation. She'll need to be checked every few hours to make sure her mind is coping with the concussion. It's only mild, but you can never be too cautious with a head injury. If you'd like, I've a spare cot in the back, you can rest in there if you'd like." He offered kindly.

"Thanks, but I'm not tired," Logan said, brushing the offer aside. Without thinking Dr Fosters snapped

"I don't know what you're running from young man, and I don't care. But I do know that that girl couldn't fight off a cold in her current condition. And without rest you won't be much better. You wont be able to save her from anything if you're dead." For a moment he though he'd gone to far, but all at once the man sagged in upon himself and agreed to take the bed.

"Good. Now remember, every few hours she needs to be roused to make sure everything is fine," said Doctor Fosters as he head out towards the front of the surgery.

"Wait! What?" Logan protested, "Where are you going?"

"Why to bed young man. I'm not as young as I used to be. Don't worry. My number is by the phone and I'll be back first thing in the morning. You'll be fine." And with that the he flipped the lights, leaving Logan illuminated by the sole lamp next to the bed that held the sleeping woman.

….

Drachen woke to a hand stroking her brow. It took her awhile to get her eyelids to cooperate, and she slammed them shut again in short order as knives of pain, caused by the sudden light from the bed side, slid into her skull.

"L-Logan? Is that you?" she asked with a wince.

"Yeah, I'm here darlin'," Logan sat down heavily in the chair next to the bed; reaching across the space between them he moved a wayward curl off her face.

"I'm so sorry. I never meant this to happen," Drachen apologized, tears gathering in the corners of her eyes.

"Shhhh, its okay. It wasn't your fault," Logan tried to reassure her, uncomfortable with her physical display of emotion.

"Yes, it was, if I hadn't tried to buy that gun-," Drachen began brokenly.

"A gun, you were after a gun?" Logan asked incredulously "Why?"

"Because… because, I was scared and I think I'm putting you in danger," Drachen clutched at Logan's hand "They're coming for me Logan, I can feel them."

"Who? Who do you thinks' coming for you?" Logan asked urgently, Drachen's eyelids began to droop and she settled back into the pillows, the unexpected outpouring of emotions exhausting her.

"I don't know," Drachen whispered, swallowing heavily, "I don't know…" Logan ran his hands through his hair in frustration. This was getting more complicated by the minute. Why him? Seriously, why did he always have to pick up the wanted chicks? Logan settled back into the chair next to the bed. He slipped the silver, egg shaped device from his pocket and stared at it intensely. With a grimace he put it back inside his jacket. He'd wait, they were fine, and he could just imagine One-Eye's ribbing if he called in something that sounded like 'I think someone's chasing me, but I don't know who or why'. Leaning the chair back against the wall Logan allowed his eyes to drift close.

…

"What happened Logan?" Logan looked up at the small figure in the bed, pale skin made paler still by the hospital grade sheets pulled up around her chin. It was late in the night, or early in the morning, depending on how you looked at it.

"Where?" he asked, knowing full well what she meant. "Before? You passed out, after mumbling a whole bunch of crap that made no sense." he reached over and began straightening the bed sheets.

"At the bar. Logan, what happened at the bar?" Drachen asked quietly, head turned towards him.

"There was a fire," Logan began, watching as Drachen's hands began to shake as they clutched at the bed sheets. "And then an explosion." Drachen winced, as she remembered, and then winced again as the stitches along her hairline pulled at her skin.

"Were- were there people in there?" she asked, half afraid of the answer and refusing to look back at her memories of last night to check for sure. Logan shrugged unconcerned

"Probably, if you could call them that. Looked like some kind of accident. Maybe a gas cylinder burst out back or something."

"Or something," Drachen agreed quietly. Logan smoothed the sheets down again, and reached for a cigar for the umpteenth time. His hand stilled inside his jacket like it had so many times during the night.

Can't smoke around sick people, he reminded himself forcefully. It didn't matter how much you wanted to.

"What do you remember?" He asked, graveled voice soothing as he looked at her. Drachen looked away, suddenly uncomfortable, and hoping he hadn't seen the guilt in her eyes.

"Nothing," she whispered evasively, her eyes tracking across the worn ceiling. "Nothing but fire." Her hands started to shake again, and Drachen was startled when a large hand reached out to still them.

"It's okay," Logan said, thumb soothing small circles into the back of her hand "Go back to sleep, there's still a few hours before dawn, and you need some rest."

"So do you," Drachen quirked her lip in tired amusement "What have you been doing all night Logan, you look like shit," Logan's chuckles were the last thing she heard as she slipped back into sleep.


	8. Chapter eight

Disclaimer: I don't own the recognizable characters or places mentioned in this obvious work of fiction.

Enjoy and leave feedback if you are so inclined. I'd like some opinions on the new and improved chapters.

* * *

Drachen wrinkled her nose at the smell coming off the wood in the fire. They were camping out tonight, under the stars, at one with the elements…

And bugs. Don't forget bugs, she thought with an annoyed grimace as she swatted at yet another unknown flying pest.

It had been a week since they'd left the surgery and Drachen had almost convinced herself that the van she'd seen in the parking lot hadn't been searching for her and that she was just being overly paranoid. Almost.

Yesterday Drachen swore she'd seen it again. They had been heading up the interstate and she had watched a black van overtake them, then slow. She'd thought her heart was going to stop. But it had taken the next exit, so Drachen had tried to put it to the back of her mind. Heaps of people owned black vans after all. With a sigh she took another swig of one of the beers Logan had brought. She'd hopped that the alcohol would fog her mind, dull her senses, and most of all stop the throbbing pain in her side, not to mention the pain in her chest. If it was working it was taking its own sweet time.

Logan looked up and watched as a look of melancholy and pain moved across Drachen's face. He'd become used to it, ever since the bar, ever since the fire. His tiny travelling companion seemed different, quieter. His sensitive nose picked up the ever so slight smell of burning flesh, which distracted him from his thoughts. Chow was done. He began forking the two bits of sizzling steak onto paper plates. There was no cutlery, but they'd done without it before, so he didn't really count it as an inconvenience.

"Hey Drake, chow's done," Logan watched as she unfolded herself from the blanket she'd claimed as her own. He noticed, not for the first time, how the flames illuminated her face and body. The closer she was to the fire, the more she seemed to glow.

"Thanks," Drachen said with a soft smile. They settled back with their meals and Logan watched, almost entranced as her small white teeth bit into the medium rare meat. She chewed and swallowed, but he caught a slight grimace as she did so. Logan felt an unaccustomed sting to his pride. He wasn't that bad a cook!

"I guess you're not much used to this kind of cooking," He offered, the words coming out with more of a growl then he'd intended. Drachen's eyes rose to meet his and she blushed

"Not so much," she answered quietly "My father would have pitched a fit if something like this had come out of our kitchen. I probably would have too." She admitted. He watched as she took another bite, this time there was no grimace.

"And now?" Logan asked, curious despite himself.

"Now? I don't have the luxury of being a vegetarian anymore." She said with a short laugh "It's pretty hard to live on tofu, edamamae and buckwheat noodles when you're focused on where you're next ride is coming from and if you'll have a safe place to sleep that night."

"Must have been tough," Logan offered quietly, finishing up his steak.

"It hasn't been too much fun," Drachen agreed, thinking back to a time when any of the aforementioned actions would have been unthinkable. Drachen ate the last of her steak in silence.

"Hey Logan," Drachen said, breaking the silence "Tell me about the worst day of your life." Logan looked up to find Drachen staring into the flames with a broken expression on her face. He tried to smile and brush the question aside,

"Why do you wanna know that kid?" he asked. Logan sometimes thought that he'd had so many 'worst days' that his life, or what he could remember of it, was almost defined by them.

"Just curious." Drachen said with a small quirk of her lips.

"The worst day of my life, huh? Hmmmmmm…" Logan thought back over the last six months, back to a sandstone mansion and mahogany hair, threaded with white. "The worst day of my life was when I let my nightmares spill over into the real world. I didn't know where I was, or when I was. I hurt someone I cared about." He could still remember her intake of breath as he'd slammed his claws into her chest. He could feel the ever-present guilt ready in the darkness of his mind, waiting to torture him again. Drachen just nodded, intent on studying the flames.

"What was yours?" Logan asked, curious to what her answer would be. Drachen laughed bitterly,

"I've been running for about six months now. It seems longer though, especially at night." Drachen cleared her throat, "I- I got expelled from 'Finishing' school, you know, the sort of high class pre-college 'school' that only League chasers apply too? It was a stupid fight. I lost my temper. Again. Said some things I shouldn't have. I may even have set someone's pre college assessment plan on fire..." Drachen trailed off, blinking she continued, "I came home early and they were waiting. Sometimes I wonder what would have happened if I hadn't gone straight home. If I'd gone to the mall instead?" Drachen looked up from her lap and over to where Logan was sitting against a log. "I can remember the sound right after my mother was shot, before my father started yelling. It wasn't silence - it was beyond that." Drachen's eyes met his over the fire "Sometimes, when I wake up at night and before I go to sleep, I can still feel their blood running through my hair, and down my face," A single tear trekked its way down her cheek, in the firelight it glittered like a diamond "Soaking into my clothes… " Drachen stopped, uncertain suddenly. With shaking fingers unzipped her jacket and slipped it from her shoulders. The chill of the night air rose gooseflesh on her skin.

"They tried to kill me as well." she said, and then stopped. Slowly Drachen pulled open the neck of her faded dress shirt. Logan froze at the sight of her milky breasts and felt his eyes inadvertently slip down the valley between them. His gaze was caught and held by a raised scar nestled at the base of her breasts. Suddenly Drachen shook her head, pulling her shirt closed she shrugged back into her jacket and continued, "Fuck. You know I sometimes wish they _had_ killed me. It would have saved a whole lot of trouble." she took a deep breath "Then sometimes, late at night I start wishing I was brave enough to kill myself. At least then it would be over, you know?"

"I wouldn't if I were you." Logan warned, "Death is a hard thing to cure. It's a pretty permanent decision." Drachen's eyes snapped across to his, the anger in their depths unmistakable

"Well you're not me, and you don't have my problems." Drachen snapped. Logan got up and threw his paper plate into the fire. The fire rose up to devour the unexpected fuel.

"How would you know what fuckin' problems I have? You're too caught up in yours to notice anybody else's," he snapped, walking off into the darkness.

Drachen felt a great emptiness open inside her. How did she manage to fuck everything up so badly? No matter how hard she tried her temper always seemed to get the better of her. No family, no friends, on the run with no place to go… Drachen curled up by the fire, unfinished beer at her side, and silently cried herself to sleep.

Out in the darkness Logan mentally berated himself for losing it. He wasn't used to this. Talking instead of fighting, trying to be a functioning human member of society. He shouldn't have snapped, he knew, but the girl was so god damn irritating at times. When he got back he found Drachen curled up asleep. Silently he banked the fire, made up his own bed, and followed her example.


	9. Chapter nine

Disclaimer: I don't own the recognizable characters or places mentioned in this obvious work of fiction.

Enjoy and leave feedback if you are so inclined. I'd like some opinions on the new and improved chapters.

* * *

Drachen glanced in the wing mirror for what felt like the fortieth time in the last half hour. She could've sworn she'd seen that van again. It had pulled off the highway, but now it was behind them, about six cars back, just sitting there.

And it couldn't just be paranoia? She asked herself sarcastically, No, it's the same van, Drachen answered her own taunting almost self consciously, I'm not crazy. Not yet anyway.

Drachen watched as the sun began making its way towards the horizon, and shivered in the evening chill. It was getting colder the further north they traveled, with winter coming earlier the closer they got to the Pole. Logan, ever attentive since the incident at the bar, whether through residual guilt in relation to her injury or some misplaced sense of chivalry, glanced back at her in concern. It was like the previous night had never happened, he hadn't mentioned it that morning so neither did she. Drachen watched as a neon motel sign came into view over the crest of the hill. When Logan turned off the bike she turned to him, confused

"Why are we stopping?" Not that she was averse to stretching her legs a little. It just seemed that more and more often they would ride until well after the sun had set, stopping to either camp or stay in run down motels that hadn't seen a star rating systems since they were constructed. The place looked too new, too nice.

"Because," Logan said quietly "You need a bath, I need a shave, and we're both tired. It might do us some good to sleep undercover. The nights are getting colder, and the warmth will do us good." Logan left out the fact that he'd made the van following them since that morning, and was hoping that by going to ground somewhere more protected that they might lose them in the night.

"Fine with me." Drachen muttered, more relieved then she sounded. She tried to cover a wince as she began unlacing the saddlebags onto the ground in the deserted parking lot. Her ribs had healed fine, but every now and then, when she turned the wrong way, or twisted too fast, a flash of pain reminded her of the consequences of her bad decision. Drachen turned to watch Logan cross the parking lot to pay for their room. She smiled briefly as she studied how good his ass looked in the tight motorcycle jeans that he never seemed to be out of. Which is why she didn't immediately notice the black van that had been following them on and off for the past few weeks pull into the parking lot behind her.

The first Drachen knew of the men grouping behind her was the small crunch of a footstep on gravel, that and the look of alarm that crossed Logan's face when he looked across at her as he came out of the reception office holding a single set of keys. Without bothering to look around Drachen started to run towards Logan, heart pounding and unwilling to turn and see what was behind her. Halfway across the lot she was tackled from behind, her ribs protesting painfully at the sudden rough treatment. The bark of a gun echoed loudly in her ears and in a gut twisting moment of fear Drachen threw her head back to scream a warning at Logan. Taking a deep breath she inhaled most of the Ether on the rag that was clamped over her nose and mouth.

Logan was frozen for a split second as his mind took in the black van parked at the edge of the lot and the men silently approaching Drachen from behind. He watched as she smiled, unaware of the danger she was in. Suddenly she caught Logan's eye, and without prompting she started to run towards him, dropping the saddlebags and not even bothering to check to see what was coming for her. Halfway across the lot she was tackled from behind, and she went down, hard. Logan was running before she hit the ground. A rag pressed to her face the reason why she so quickly ceased to struggle. With a growl he unsheathed the metal blades housed in his forearms. Hitting the first figure in black he slammed his claws through the body armor, the force of the blow throwing the figure back in to the side of the van. Two men swung automatic weapons off their shoulders, while the remaining two began to drag Drachen's unconscious form towards the open door of the van. Logan ignored the guns of the two men in front of him; letting his rage give him speed he reached the van just as the first man lunged for the door. With a yell the men dropped their burden, as Drachen's unconscious form slid to the ground.

Snarling Logan sliced at the face of his opponent, who was suddenly not there. Logan felt his kidneys protest at the blow they received, swinging around on reflex he managed to claw his opponent's forearm. The scent of rot alerted Logan to the presence of his other foe. Drachen's crumpled body was left under the open door of the van as Logan tried to move the fight away from her. Turning he slashed what would have been a killing blow to a lesser man, instead his arm was grabbed in a vice like grip. The hand that held his wrist like steel suddenly blurred and started to ooze up his arm.

Growling Logan yanked at his arm while slashing with his left hand towards his captors face. The commotion was starting to draw attention to them; lights were coming on in the cabins bordering the lot. With a barked command from their earpieces the two mutants dropped back, retreating towards the van. The two remaining figures in black let off a burst of fire, then swung their weapons onto their backs and retreated towards the van, closer to Drachen's unconscious form. With a growl Logan stepped forward, claws extended as bullets rained out from another figure still stationed inside the van. Ignoring the pain, Logan grabbed for Drachen just as another hand reached down and began pulling her unconscious body into the van. With a grunt he slashed upwards, separating hand from wrist. Ignoring the pain of his wounds Logan picked up Drachen's limp body. As he'd thought, as soon as Drake was in his arms the shooting ceased. It seemed they didn't want to risk hitting her. With a squeal of tires the vehicle sped out of the parking lot and into the evening gloom.

By the time Logan had gotten to their room he was near collapse. They needed to leave, but Drachen was in no shape to ride, and while semi conscious he could count on her to hold on he had no illusions about trying to keep an unconscious girl on a motorcycle. Placing Drachen gently on the bed he stripped off his bomber jacket, then the denim, then his shirt. The three bullet wounds in his legs were closing, his flesh healing and tightening, forcing the mushroomed heads closer and closer to the surface of his skin. It was the same with the two shots in his shoulder. The ones in his stomach were causing the most trouble, as were the two above his heart. He also thought there might be one lodged in his lung. Coughing Logan tried to draw a breath, and winced at the familiar copper taste of blood in his mouth. With a groan he half lay half fell down beside Drachen's unconscious body. A rudimentary check with a clumsy, grasping hand hadn't evidenced any sign of blood on the girl. Another cough interrupted his inspection and Logan winced as his body shook and his guts twisted. Sighing he closed his eyes for a second. The girl seemed fine and he was exhausted by the task of trying to heal himself. Logan slipped into any uneasy rest, haunted by guns and black clad figures.


	10. Chapter ten

Disclaimer: I don't own the recognizable characters or places mentioned in this obvious work of fiction.

Enjoy and leave feedback if you are so inclined. I'd like some opinions on the new and improved chapters.

* * *

The first thing Drachen registered when she regained consciousness was the god-awful headache she had, the second was the tangle of memories sitting in the front of her mind of what had occurred before she'd succumbed to unconsciousness. In panic she threw out her arms to ward off an imaginary blow, kicking at the same time. Her arms were grabbed awkwardly by a figure lying beside her. Drachen's eyes snapped open as the figure rolled on top of her, pinning her arms above her head. She looked up into the pained face of Logan and stopped struggling, until she remembered the blue skinned woman and the way her faced had bled through the white-haired man's skin.

With a grimace of pain Drachen pulled herself off the bed and head butted the figure above her, arms screaming in protest. The figure released her and rolled back on to the bed. Drachen scrambled to her feet, dizziness making her clumsy as she tried to run towards the motel door. With a sob she pitched to the floor, feet tangled in the comforter. Her ribs burned as she scrambled to her feet and tried to run. Logan beat her to the door, pining her arms to her sides and using his shoulder to slam her back against the wall.

"Let go of me you blue skinned bitch." Drachen gasped impotently, breathless. She kicked ineffectively at Logan's shins. Suddenly with a twisted smirk Drachen dropped her body weight and using the wall as leverage jammed her knee up into Logan's crotch. With a growl Logan grabbed her by the throat and slammed her back into the wall. Drachen's head hit the framed photo of Elvis with a sickening crack as glass rained over both of them. Opening her eyes Drachen looked up in to Logan's face. He stared back with a look of fear in his eyes. Drachen watched as he stepped backwards and raised his hands, he was backing across the room.

"I'm sorry. Drake, I'm sorry," he gasped, eyes wide "Are you okay?" Drachen looked at him through blurred eyes

"Why didn't you kill me you bitch?" she asked, her words slurring only slightly

"Drachen, its me. Its Logan." Logan said loudly, enunciating his words.

"Not true. It's a trick." Drachen protested, thoughts crashing into themselves like freight trains in her mind "They have me. You have me."

"Drachen darlin', its me." the aching between her ears was getting worse, and she was having trouble concentrating over the sound of church bells. A part of Drachen's rattled mind wondered where all the churches were at? She couldn't remember seeing any on the way in… and wasn't it Tuesday?

"It's me." Logan tried again, though he made no move to come closer.

"Prove it." Drachen groaned, pressing the heel of her palm to her aching head. "Tell me something only Logan would know." Logan thought wildly for a second

"You suck at shop lifting," he said. Drachen opened her mouth to protest, but Logan's raised eyebrows stopped her

"I don't suck, I just need a little more practice," she mumbled, glaring at him and reaching behind her head. Drachen winced as she touched the bump. Slowly she pushed herself up from her sitting position and began to walk towards Logan, noticing for the first time the blood streaked across his chest and the two ragged holes in his shoulder, not to mention the blood that was streaming from his nose. Raising a hand she hesitated, "Did I do that?" she whispered, biting her lip. Logan shrugged noncommittally.

"You were scared," he offered.

"Oh my god Logan, your chest!" Drachen gasped. Logan looked down at the two small wounds about two inches above his heart, to Logan they were already half healed. If he hadn't been hit so many times the pain would have been a distant memory. As it was, things were progressing slightly slower then normal.

"It's nothing. I'm fine," he said dismissively

"It's not nothing! It's bleeding!" Drachen snapped, "Oh god, did I do that too?" she asked apprehensively.

"With what?" Logan chuckled "Nah, I got shot when we were outside." Drachen froze as she picked up Logan's discarded singlet.

"Shot?" she asked disbelievingly. Clutching the singlet in her hands she moved towards the bathroom, still slightly unsteady on her feet. Gripping the sink she turned on the tap to dampen the material.

"You need to lie down Drake, your head-,"

"I'm fine," she answered calmly, trying not to let on how unsteady she was on her feet. The room started to sway, despite Drachen's firm grip on the basin.

"Come on," growled a voice in her ear. With a muffled grunt of pain Logan wrapped his arms around her and picked her up. Taking her back to the bed he slowly lowered her onto the mattress. Picking up the now soaked singlet Logan turned towards the small kitchenette, wiping his face in the process. Drachen pulled herself into a sitting position, hissing with pain, she continued,

"I'm not lying down Logan unless you come over hear and let me have a look at your chest." Logan quirked an eyebrow, "Well, if you insist…" he smirked. Drachen tried not to smile, and failed, the hint of a blush staining her pale cheeks.

"Sit your ass down on this bed Logan!" Drachen demanded, trying not to giggle.

"Sure thing little darlin'," he drawled, swaggering over.

"Logan I'm serious, let me have a look," Without thinking Drachen reached out and laid her hand on the wounds. There was a pleasant tingling sensation in her hand, almost soothing. Without warning Logan gave a roar and jumped from the bed, throwing Drachen backwards in the process. Drachen slammed into the wall and only having her breath knocked out of her for the second time that day prevented her from crying out. Logan stood facing her across the room, bare chested with… blades coming out of his knuckles? Drachen's eyes widened in fear and she tried to push herself further back into the wall. The dragon roared inside her.

Logan stared down in shock at his chest. Where the wounds above his heart had been there were now two pale pink scars. He looked across at Drake; there was a trickle of blood running down her face from a split in her eyebrow. He saw the fear in her eyes as she looked at him, and only then realised his claws were free. Sheathing them he took a step towards her, arms raised entreatingly. Drachen gave a small whimper. That's when Logan noticed that her hair was waving wildly about her head, its scarlet tendrils glowing with light. Her eyes were so bright they looked to be burning.

"Drake, darlin'…" Hesitantly Logan took another step and narrowly missed becoming a roasted Wolverine. The fireball slammed into the wall behind him, causing Logan to roll to the floor. Quickly he turned back towards the girl on the bed.

…..

Drachen stared at her hands in terror. They were on fire! She looked up just in time to see Logan duck as a ball of flame shot over his head.

"Logan!" Drachen cried out in terror, reaching out towards the flames devouring the décor, trying desperately to cage the dragon and call them back. With a woosh the fire disappeared and Drachen stumbled forward towards Logan on shaking legs. Logan moved to help her but as soon as he grabbed her arm Drachen couldn't help but flinch, remembering the knife like weapons that had been so recently there. She saw the hurt in Logan's eyes, but just as she opened her mouth to explain, Drachen felt the room start to spin, the floor joined in the party, and with Logan's name on her lips she pitched forward into his arms.

Logan looked down at the unconscious young woman he held close to his chest. Drachen's hair and hands had gone out and so had the wall, which was interesting. The only sign that the fire had ever been there was a slight singeing of the wallpaper. As Logan gently placed her back down on the bed he wondered if she had even known she was a mutant.

…..

Drachen woke to a world filled with pain. She gave a cross between a moan and a sob as she struggled to sit up.

"Hey darlin', shhh… stay still." Logan said as he gently pressed her back into the pillows "Can you hear me? You got a quiet a knock to the head before." Drachen nodded slowly, exhaustion weighing down her limbs. Even that small movement tired her.

"I'm going to have to strap your ribs, okay? I can't put you on the bike the way you are. You understand?" Drachen gave another small nod, eyelids drooping. "I have to take your shirt off so…" but Drachen had already passed out again. Gently Logan unlaced the singlet that bound her breasts. Looking down at Drachen's near naked form Logan swallowed. Her breasts were high and firm and as his fingers involuntarily brushed across her nipples they hardened. The sight brought unaccustomed warmth to Logan's cheeks. His eyes were caught by the small scar just below her breastbone and he shivered, wondering just how close she had come to death that fateful day. Carefully he bandaged her ribs and tucked the blankets around her. With a start of surprise he found himself leaning down and placing a chaste kiss on her forehead. Rising Logan turned out the light and settled back onto the other side of the bed.

Drachen spent the next two days fading in and out of consciousness with the help of a mixture of sleeping pills and painkillers. Logan was starting to get worried about the dosage and the only thing that had thus far stopped him from getting her to a hospital was how he was going to explain flames engulfing the room if she panicked again, that and the problem of how to get her there. He'd even thought about calling Scooter. He cast another glance at the bed on which Drachen rested and was startled to find her looking back at him. She beckoned him over.

"How 'ya feeling?" Logan asked with concern. Drachen smiled back, somewhat foggy from the drugs, but awake

"Like shit. You?" she tried to answer flippantly, but her response was underscored by a wince of pain.

"Can't complain." Logan answered with a smile. Drachen started to chuckle but stopped when it turned to a gasp.

"It hurts." She said softly.

"I bet it does." Logan answered. "I'm pretty sure you cracked your ribs again. Or I did." Drachen watched a look of guilt flash across Logan's face

"Just as they were getting better too." She complained teasingly, trying to break Logan out of his sudden melancholy.

"Yeah well, ain't it always the way? I'm gunna have to re-strap your ribs now that you're awake." Logan answered. Drachen closed her eyes and settled back into the bed. "Well at least one of us is enjoying this." She said with a small smile, as Logan moved himself onto the bed and started pulling down the sheet. "You know if you wanted to be on top of me Logan, all you had to do was ask," Drachen teased.

"Believe me darlin', you're in no shape for me to have my wicked way with you, I promise. I like my partners a bit more active." Logan gently teased back. Drachen blushed, suddenly aware of how intimate their current position was, and the direction their not so casual banter was taking. She reached up and laid a hand on his bicep

"Thank you Logan," Drachen said, looking up into his eyes.

"For what?" Logan asked evasively, eyes sliding back to the task at hand "This…" He gestured to her partially bandaged ribs "…is my fault."

"Really? See I thought 'this' was my fault. I did hit you first," Drachen argued

"Technically, you head butted me," Logan corrected with a smile, using a butterfly clip to hold the tail end of the fresh bandage in place.

"Like I said. My fault." Drachen grinned saucily, then trailed off

"Logan, can I ask you something?" Logan smiled at her suddenly serious expression

"Sure little darlin'" He answered, refraining from pointing out that she already was.

"Are you a mutant?" Drachen asked hesitantly. Logan looked down at the bandaged woman beneath him, and watched the play of emotions across her face.

"Yes, I am." He answered "And so are you."


	11. Chapter eleven

Disclaimer: I don't own the recognizable characters or places mentioned in this obvious work of fiction.

Enjoy and leave feedback if you are so inclined. I'd like some opinions on the new and improved chapters.

* * *

Drachen looked at the shower with some trepidation. She was sure it was a nice shower, it looked well designed, suited the decorating style of the room fairly well… it was just so…hard looking. Not so much the shower itself, more the effort needed to engage in the act. With a sigh Drachen reached forward and turned on the tap. She watched as the water began giving off steam, which quickly filled the small bathroom. After some fiddling with the taps she managed to find a happy medium between lukewarm and scalding, which helped to improve her outlook somewhat. Dropping her towel Drachen stepped hesitantly into the spray, her ribs faintly protesting. She'd managed to convince Logan to take the strapping off so she could have a real shower, not that she wasn't enjoying the sponge baths and what came after them. Its just, they really weren't as romantic and sexy as they seemed in the movies. More awkwardly uncomfortable and while somewhat pleasant, Drachen never felt truly _clean_ after them.

Drachen groaned as the deliciously hot water streamed down her back, bracing her arms against the wall she simply stood in the spray and let the water wash away the cares of the last six months. Finally Drachen reached for the sponge and began slowly soaping her body, wondering as she did when exactly she had gotten so pale and thin.

All the life and death battles must be taking it out of me, she thought with a bitter smile.

After rinsing her body free of suds Drachen decided to take the plunge and try washing her hair. She knew it would hurt, she knew its wasn't the best idea, but honestly? It felt like her scalp was _moving_. The feel of the hot water soaking into her tangled tresses was heaven, and Drachen couldn't remember feeling this good in a while. Strange how you began appreciating the little things in life when you didn't have them anymore… with a wince Drachen reached out of the shower to grab a bottle of the mini shampoo/conditioner the motel was providing 'complementary'. She looked at the sky-blue puddle in her palm dubiously, but duly rubbed it into her wet curls for lack of an alternative option. It would not be good for her hair, but either was not being washed for two weeks. The discomfort of massaging her scalp and lathering her hair was causing Drachen to grit her teeth, but small hisses of pain were still managing to escape. Tipping he head back to begin rinsing her sud-soaked tresses Drachen let out an involuntary cry of pain as her rib muscles protested. Dropping her arms she clutched at her side.

Logan looked up from the newspaper he'd been skimming at the cry from behind the bathroom door. He knew this was a bad idea! In two steps Logan was through the door and managed to catch Drachen in the shower recess just before she fell, or at least that's the way it looked to him.

Drachen gasped as she suddenly found herself pulled upright against a hard chest, her hands automatically clutching at Logan's shoulders to steady herself as the water continued to rain down on them. Logan seemed frozen in place, and Drachen wondered if it had occurred to him that she might be completely naked when he had burst in to rescue her from the vicious shower. Drachen slowly raised her eyes to meet Logan's heated gaze, and then cursed herself for a fool when she did, because now she was caught. Frozen in place as her skin burned under his hands, and where those hands were… Later Drachen couldn't say who bridged the distance first, but suddenly he had captured her lips, or she'd captured his, it didn't really matter anymore because they were kissing like starving people as the steam rose around them. Drachen ran her hands over Logan's shoulders, moaning as the friction between her soapy breasts and his shower soaked singlet caused her nipples to harden deliciously. One of Logan's hands had slipped down her back and was gripping her arse, as the other moved to caress her breast. With a groan Logan pressed Drachen back against the wall, which made her gasp, though not so much in pleasure as pain. Logan immediately drew back.

"I'm sorry," he apologized breathlessly, though he didn't let her go "I thought – I shouldn't have-,"

"Stop." Drachen raised her hand and pressed a finger against his lips, and then almost came apart as he sucked it into his mouth.

"Logan, you're all wet," Drachen protested, groaning and futilely trying to recapture her finger.

"Well I hate to say it darlin' but so are you," Drachen felt her neck heat and knew she was blushing, because Logan wasn't just talking about the fact that she was in the shower. Logan dropped his head to rest against hers, fingers rubbing circles around her pale pink nipples.

"How're your ribs?" he asked quietly. Drachen laughed quietly

"Sore," she answered, "But a bit better now," she added with a smile. "You know Logan…" Drachen began, "We should really see about getting you out of those wet clothes," Logan chuckled throatily.

"Now, now, sweet cheeks," he cautioned, "You couldn't even get through a shower without your ribs dropping you," but his kisses took the sting from his words "I think we might have to delay anything more… physical until you're all healed up. I wouldn't want to damage you…" Drachen tried to pout, but Logan's laughter at her vain attempts made the entire expression pointless. Before she knew it Drachen found herself wrapped in one of the cheap motel towels and perched on the edge of the rooms double bed with Logan sitting behind her drying her hair. It was a surreal experience to say the least.

...

"You know they're going to keep coming, right?" Logan said quietly as he placed a mug of steaming black coffee in front of her. Drachen looked up in consternation. They were sitting in a small diner just off the interstate, and Drachen was trying the weigh up the wisdom of ordering pie.

"You don't know that Logan, not for sure," she answered back, trying to deny hearing her own conclusion coming from someone else's lips.

"Yes. I do." Logan said "That blue skinned woman you're so afraid of? Her name's Mystique, and she's got more lives then a cat. You're right to be scared. She used to run with a band of mutants called the Brotherhood, but they were defeated last summer by the X-Men," Logan rubbed at the back of his neck, thinking back to the events of last year "Unfortunately she escaped."

"How do you know all this?" Drachen asked, somewhat incredulously

"Because I was there. Fighting. I'm a member of the X-Men," Logan mentally winced at the trite explanation, hoping that Scooter would never hear of him actually admitting any kind of commonality with the one eyed whiny freak.

"Then why aren't you back there, with them?" Drachen asked, curious

"Because I'm here instead, with you." Logan answered firmly. "An right now there's no where else I'd rather be." Both of them fell silent at that, Logan wondering what had prompted him to make that involuntary declaration, and Drachen wondering exactly just what it meant. After what seemed like an age Drachen continued,

"Logan, I think she's trying to build an army," she said, "When they came for my parents, she kept asking about the Mutant Registration Bill. My father has – had a lot to do with its inception. It's a horrible piece of legislation, truly. They say it's about 'protection', but it's more about segregation and control. The thing is, they had already started recording names. I think she wants the proto-list." Drachen finished with a sigh. Her stomach clenched tightly, and she decided against the pie.

"Who has it?" Logan asked, concerned. If the Brotherhood was after this list of names in an attempt to recruit an army from it, then whoever had the list was in danger.

"I've got no idea. My father would have known where it was, but," Drachen felt her breath catch, "He's gone. I think they assume I have it, or at least know where it is. And I think the Senator is dead." she finished

"That's a given," Logan answered matter-of-factly, "I was there when he died." Drachen thought back to the yellow-eyed figure with white hair.

"I guess that's her mutation then, impersonation. She was wearing his face when she had them killed."

"You're right," Logan agreed, "But it goes beyond that. She doesn't just impersonate them, she becomes them, wears their skin," Drachen looked around the diner, it was past breakfast and most of the booths were empty, still it was strange to be talking about these things in such a normal setting.

"One thing she can't change though, is her scent and one thing she can't copy is her victim's mutation," Logan said, smirking to himself.

"Her scent?" Drachen asked in confusion.

"That's part of my mutation." Logan explained, tapping the side of his nose.

"Really? So, the claws and a super nose," Drachen watched Logan's face still for a second

"I have accelerated healing and heighten senses." Logan corrective, "The claws – came later,"

"And the nightmares?" Drachen dared ask quietly. Loan winced, remembering the events of the night before. He'd had another night terror. A bad one. At least Drachen had realized the futility of trying to wake him, or rather, the danger. She'd retreated to the far side of the room, and watched as he worked through it. Waking up panting in fear wasn't the best look. But it was better then waking up with his claws in her chest.

"Yeah, I got those with the claws." Drachen reached across the table and laid her hand on Logan's clenched fists, giving them a soft squeeze.

"So, what do I do?" she asked quietly "If they aren't going to stop,"

"We," Logan said with quite conviction

"Logan I can't ask you too-" Drachen began,

"You're not. But you're nuts if you think I'm going to let you do this by yourself. Besides, we won't be alone. I think its time to call in some reinforcements. You never know, if you look too hard to nab, the blueberry Paddle Pop might get bored and go away. She's got that sort of attention span." Drachen dropped her head into her hands and sighed.

"Are you sure this is really happening Logan?" Drachen asked in quiet disbelief, almost begging him to deny the events of the past few weeks, "This all sounds so… farfetched." she continued. Logan smiled, but his words were serious

"For you, two weeks ago so was being a mutant."


	12. Chapter twelve

Disclaimer: I don't own the recognizable characters or places mentioned in this obvious work of fiction.

Enjoy and leave feedback if you are so inclined.

* * *

"Come on, pack your gear," Drachen looked up from her magazine as Logan slipped through the door into their current accommodation. This place really wasn't so bad, not like the last few, she hadn't even seen any bugs yet.

"Now? But its just gone eight out," she protested, confused.

"Yeah, which is why we're leaving. I made contact with Westchester and got given my marching orders," Logan's lips curled at the statement, but at least the request had stung less coming from The Professor, "We'll be traveling at night from now on to avoid our new friends," Logan was more concerned about the latter then he was letting on. They had escaped one abduction attempt by sheer luck, next time things they might not be so lucky. Even he could be taken down if the Brotherhood, or what ever they were calling themselves now, hit them with enough men.

"Great," Drachen muttered to herself, putting down the trash-mag, "I'm liking these nutters less and less." She headed towards the small bathroom to pack her few toiletries. After Logan had put her mind to rest about the fact that these mysterious X-Men were picking up the tab, she felt justified and buying some better quality hair products, even if they had only been from a convenience store. Drachen felt Logan move up behind her and hesitantly wrap his arms around her body. She leaned back into his embrace with a small smile. Things hadn't progressed much beyond what had occurred in the shower the other night, and they were both taking it slow. Logan was citing Drachen's injuries as the reason, but she thought that there was more then that. Regardless of the excuse Drachen was content not to push him for now. These spontaneous shows of affection were rare, and she always had the feeling that he was expecting her to protest every time he touched her.

"We should be there in about a week, give or take a few days," he mumbled into her neck. "It's not too bad there you know?" he offered coaxingly "The beds are nice, foods good. Better then these rat shit motels we been stayin' in."

"And the people?" Drachen queried with a raised brow.

"Yeah, I suppose they aren't too bad either, a bit self-righteous and anally retentive with their prissy god damn hair," he said with a smile, thinking of One-Eye's over styled locks "But you probably couldn't find a nicer bunch a people." Logan finished, tugging absently on one of Drachen's wayward scarlet curls.

"You sound like you miss them," Drachen stated quietly

"Me? Miss those do-gooders in spandex. Hell no!" Logan protested, "There might be one or two I could stand to say 'hello' to though…" he conceded gruffly. Drachen smiled at Logan in the mirror, turning to kiss his cheek and then moving to kiss his lips. She felt his arms tighten around her, pulling her flush against his chest and returning her tentative kiss with one of his own. All too soon his arms loosened. Logan looked down at her apologetically.

"Its not that I don't want to do this now darlin'," he said, "But we really gotta go." Drachen smiled, trying not to let the hurt of the rejection, however well meaning, show in her eyes.

"Let me just grab the rest of my gear," she said, slipping out of the loose embrace to grab her few remaining belongings.

…..

Drachen tried not to stare at her first glimpse of the mansion, but it was hard. The drive and gardens were impressive enough, with manicured laws and marble fountains, but she felt her jaw drop in awe as the mansion itself came into view. Their home in Washington had been large, and her parents were invited to all the best parties and had personalized parking spaces at the Country Club. But this here was wealth on a whole other scale. Logan rode right up to the entrance before he brought the bike to a stop with a smooth shifting of gears. They seemed to have warranted a welcoming committee made up of a preppy looking guy with red tinted sunglasses, a tall woman who was probably the mousiest red-head Drachen had ever seen, and a bouncing girl with streaks in her hair who despite the relative warmth of Westchester was covered head to toe in jacket, scarf, gloves, jeans and boots. She wasn't sure what to make of the group, but they apparently had no such qualms about them. Logan had barely cleared the bike when the bouncing girl was in his arms, her exuberant welcome running over the top of any conversation Logan was trying to make. The two figures on the stairs were smiling indulgently and not for the first time since this whole mess had started Drachen felt a pang of grief. She hadn't had much time for loneliness since meeting Logan, but now that they were here, surrounded by Logan's friends, it brought home to her just how much she had lost, and just how much she didn't know about Logan's world. He may not have spoken about them before, but there was real affection in his greetings towards his friends and she could tell that this affection was returned.

Turning Drachen started to unload the bike of their few belongings. When they had first started on this little road trip from hell Drachen had been unable to perform even the simplest of tasks. Now she could do anything from set up a rough camp in whatever insect-infested patch of ground Logan decided was perfect for spending the night on, to keeping the bike well tuned and in mostly running order. She grabbed a few things from under the seat and then unstrapped the saddlebags from their perches.

Drachen almost jumped when Logan's arm snaked around her waist and turned her towards a somewhat expectant crowd that had somehow gained a forth member. The white-hared dark skinned woman stepped towards the bike with a smile

"Drachen, welcome. We've been very much looking forward to having you with us," Drachen watched as the redhead's expression soured slightly at Logan's hand on her waist "We hope that you will be happy here for as long as you might like to stay," she finished. Drachen returned the woman's warm smile with a small one of her own

"It's Drake," she corrected politely "And I think its me who should be thanking you. I really appreciate you all taking me in like this," she added sincerely.

"Well, any friend of Logan's…" said the visor wearing guy with a smile. Drachen felt Logan's hand tighten on her hip at the hidden sneer in those words.

"Regardless," Drachen said, widening her smile and ignoring the veiled insult "I'm grateful for your hospitality." The dark skinned woman smiled again, seemingly oblivious to the undercurrent of tension in the conversation, "My name is Ororo, this is Marie," Ororo indicated the bouncing girl whose pep seemed to have wilted somewhat when Logan had embraced her, "On the stairs are Scott and Jean. Baring Marie, we all teach at the school." Drachen's brows wrinkled slightly in confusion

"Wait, this is a school?" Ororo laughed kindly and gestured that they should precede her

"Come inside and I'll explain all about it," Drachen almost protested as Logan ushered her forward, keeping their packs

"Go take the Grand Tour darlin'," he said lightly, moving towards Scott and Jean, "I'll catch you later," Drachen smiled and tried to shrug nonchalantly. Scraping a hand through her hair Drachen stood on her toes and pressed a kiss to Logan's bristled cheek. The look of veiled venom Jean shot her was worth the effort of the unaccustomed display of public affection. Giving her curls a final shake she turned to follow Ororo into the mansion. Marie seemed torn between staying to talk to Logan and joining the tour. A somewhat pointed look from Jean seemed to convince her that the tour was a better idea. Drachen gave a mental snort at the subtlety. It looked like the 'adults' wanted to talk.

…

"So," Scott said when the small group had entered the mansion "You've obviously gotten close," the insinuation in the comment was unmistakable. Logan repressed a growl, not liking the way the one-eyed prick was eyeing up his girl.

"Close enough," Logan replied guardedly; eyes caught by Scooters newest 'toy'. The vintage Porsche had been given pride of place in the garage, its silver paintwork almost glowing under the lights. Logan's fingered itched to take it out for a spin. Scott meanwhile, was goaded by Logan's lack of response

"She's a little young for you Wolverine, or is that how you like them now days?" Scott shot back "Couldn't find a woman your own age that'd put up with you, so you had to rob the cradle?"

"Seems I remember a comment about me being older then the professor at one stage," Logan shot back "If that's the case, everyone on the planet is 'a little young' for me." Logan smirked "Don't see why I shouldn't capitalize on the situation as it stands,"

"Boys," Jean interrupted with a slight frown "Can't you wait at least ten minutes before you start baiting each other?" she scolded, even though she felt similar to Scott about the situation. It really wasn't right for Logan to be using a young girl this way.

"You look thinner," Jean commented, her voice showing her concern. Logan pulled his eyes away from the classic car. He shrugged

"Not so much," Logan argued, rubbing the back of his neck. "My old room still here?" he asked, changing the subject. Jean smiled

"Of course, just the way you left it. Minus the dirty laundry of course," Jean added

"Hey, I was keeping those clothes," He argued with a grin. Jean wrinkled her nose attractively as Scott rolled his eyes. "They were special," Logan added. Jean laughed as she leaned forward and embraced him. Logan, ever quick to take advantage of a situation, returned the hug

"It's good to have you back Logan," Jean said. The look on Scott's face was priceless

"Yes, Logan," He said mimicking Jean, though too quiet for her to hear "It's so good to have you back." Logan smirked at Scott over Jean's shoulder and released a claw, flipping him the bird while making up to his wife.


	13. Chapter thirteen

Disclaimer: I don't own the recognizable characters or places mentioned in this obvious work of fiction.

I would like to thank all of my new reviewers for their feedback. I appreciate the time you've taken to review.

* * *

"And up here you'll find our girls dormitory. This wing houses all our female students, with most girls choosing to room in small groups," Ororo explained. Drachen felt her eyebrows rise. Dormitories? Seriously? She groped around for something to say.

"I believe they had a similar system at the finishing school I was attending. But I didn't live on campus," Drachen offered as they made their way towards the end of the hall. Ororo smiled as she opened the door,

"This will be your room while you stay with us. I hope it's suitable?" Ororo offered kindly. Drachen looked around the neat room with a strained smile, tying to hide her misgivings. The room itself was fine; it had three single beds, each pushed up against a wall, the third wall contained a door, which Drachen assumed led either to an ensuite or a walk-in robe. It was a nice room, much nicer then any of the motel's they had been staying in, but it was still a dorm room. And there was no Logan. Ororo must have seen her expression before she'd been able to hide it, because she began to explain

"Some of our students do have their own rooms, however most students prefer to room with their friends. I think it gives some of the girls a positive sense of social interaction that they may not have had previously."

"Its not so bad," Marie offered with a shy smile "I've tried both, an I like roomin' with the girls," Seeing Drachen's expression Marie continued "When I first came to stay at the mansion, I had a lot of trouble with my powers, an' after a - an accident one night, well the teachers all thought it might be better if I roomed alone for a while," She gave a half smile. Dracen smiled back as she closed the door to her new room, determined to give this place ago. It would be different, staying in one place for a while, but she was willing to try it.

"Do you mind if I ask how far along you were at your school?" Ororo queried as they descended the staircase to the lower levels. Drachen shrugged, as she ran her hand down the highly polished banister

"The school was only for a year, just a whole bunch of pre-college and entry level courses," Drachen said dismissively, "I got about halfway through it…" she rubbed the back of her neck, suddenly uncomfortable with the current topic of conversation "And then I guess my mutation… erupted. I ran," Drachen finished the highly edited tale awkwardly. She saw approval in Ororo's eyes at her doctoring. Marie was nodding

"When my mutation first showed, I was so scared," she said, her soft Southern drawl lending emotion to her words. Drachen looked again at Marie's odd wardrobe choices

"Am I allowed to ask what it is? I'm not breaking any rules or anything? Exposing anyone's secret identity?" Drachen said, playfully concerned. Ororo and Marie both laughed. Smiling Ororo gestured towards the French doors they were passing; they clattered open with a bang and an icy wind blow towards them. The heavy curtains fluttered in the sudden draft and Drachen's curls whipped wildly about her head and then began to rise with the sudden increase of electricity in the air. Drachen look over at Ororo and her hand rose involuntarily to cover her open month.

Lightning.

Ororo's hands were full of lightning.

"Ororo's code name is Storm. I'm sure you can guess why. She can control the weather. She can even make it snow! I'm a junior member of the X Team, my code name's Rogue, and my power," she took a breath and gave a shaky smile, "My power allows me to absorb people's energy," Drachen looked at her, confused

"Like an anti-battery?" she asked tentatively, knowing instinctively that Marie was not as comfortable with her powers as she would like others to believe.

"Um… something like that." Marie agreed.

"Is that why you wear so many clothes? I mean, not that it matters I suppose…" Drachen tried to hastily cover her lapse in courtesy.

"Yeah, I absorb energy through my skin. I can't really turn it off." She said quietly "It's safer this way,"

"I have the opposite problem," Drachen admitted with a sigh "The only time my 'thing' works, is when I'm about to die. Then boom," she gestured wildly "It's like the forth of July. I've been trying to turn it on when I want, but it just won't work. I can't even light a candle." Drachen complained. For the first time opening up about how frustrated she was with her inability to control her powers.

"That's completely normal for some mutants," Ororo offered comfortingly, "That's another thing we teach here. We aren't just an academic institution, we also teach the gifted how to control their powers and utilize them to their betterment. And," she added with a smile "I think we have the perfect teacher for you," The tour seemed to have ended in the kitchen "I can introduce you to him after lunch if you like?" Marie smiled broadly, catching on to whom Ororo could mean.

"That'd be… great," Drachen said, trying and failing to find the words to describe the relief she was feeling.

"As you've probably already guessed this is the end of our internal tour, and you're in one of the most important rooms in the house. The kitchen. You're welcome here any time of the day or night and feel free to help yourself to anything in the fridges or cabinets. There is a cook during the week who provides us most of our meals, but on the weekends we tend to fend for ourselves."

"Hey I got no issue with that. Half a year on the road tends to make you pretty inventive when it comes to food." Marie made a face, remembering some of the things she'd eaten after running away from home. It was amazing how much you could fool your mind into believing that tomato sauce packets and hot water tasted like real tomato soup.

"Well you're not on the road anymore, so lets see what we can find," Marie said. Ororo smiled at their enthusiasm

"If you ladies will excuse me, I have some administrative things to catch up on. Drake, I will catch up with you later to help organize your classes," Drachen wrinkled her nose at Ororo's departing back, making Marie smile.

"Yeah, Ororo's a stickler for schoolin'. You don't have to go to college if you don't want to. But unless you really can't, everyone has to go to class and sit their SAT's. The good thing is though, with our small class sizes you get more help then you would in a normal school, so do one gets left behind." The both looked up as what looked like a horde of children ran into the kitchen, squealing and shrieking

"How 'bout we eat outside?" Marie offered. Drachen needed no prompting, picking up their sandwiches and fruit, she followed Marie into the sunlight.

They settled themselves on the ground under a tree that was still clinging to the last of its orange leaves.

"So…" Marie started "You and Logan…?"

"Yeah…" Drachen said uncomfortably "Me and Logan."

"Um, so are you guys, like together?" Marie fished, taking a bite of her turkey sandwich

"You mean like dating?" Drachen asked with a hint of sarcasm, taking a bite of apple.

"Yeah, or whatever," Marie said with a smile around a mouthful of food.

"We're friends," Drachen answered with a closed smile. Noticing the look on Marie's face she decided to clarify "Really good friends," she said pointedly.

"I can tell," Marie said, swallowing. "He seems to like you," she offered finally

"You too," Drachen conceded levelly.

"Yeah, but he doesn't look at me the way he looks at you," Marie said quietly, sipping her juice

"And he doesn't touch me the way he touches you," Drachen countered, no longer smiling. She looked out across the lawns. Marie reached out and touched her shoulder

"Give him time. We've been through a lot together, as trite as it sounds. We're… comfortable with each other," Their conversation was interrupted by the sudden arrival of a basketball and a rather superfluous yell. Drachen turned and grabbed the ball mid air and threw it back to its owner.

"Hey thanks," said the guy, throwing the ball back to his teammates and settling down next to Marie. With a smile he put his arm around her shoulders

"Ew, Bobby!" She protested with a laugh, "You're all sweaty,"

"Aw come on Marie– you know you love it," Marie and Bobby laughed while Drachen looked on bemusedly.

"Hi, I'm Bobby, Bobby Drake," Marie must have realized that she was being rude as she hastily set about introducing Drachen.

"You know its not fair really," Bobby complained, "You girls practically outnumber us two to one," Marie and Drachen both laughed at his lamentation.

"That's not true!" Marie protested, "We've got more male teachers then female ones."

"Technically we're even," Bobby argued, plucking Maries drink from her hand. When he released it the soda glass was frosted with ice. Drachen's eyes widened at this casual use of power

"Not if you count Logan," Marie countered with a triumphant smile.

"Oh god," Bobby said with a shudder "Can we not count Logan? That guy is seriously scary."

"He's really not that bad," Drachen said quietly, handing Bobby her soda at his gesture

"Hey, yeah I heard you guys were…" he floundered for a second "Travelling together or something," he raised his eyebrows at her while handing back her drink.

"Or something," Drachen muttered. Their conversation was interrupted by the arrival of Jean.

"Hello Bobby, Marie," said the tall read headed woman in greeting.

"Dr Grey," they answered they answered in unison.

"I'm afraid I'm going to have to borrow your new friend for a moment," she turned to Drachen

"If you've finished lunch I just have a few things to go through with you if that's okay?"

"Yeah, sure." Drachen said slightly awkwardly, reaching towards the dishes that she and Marie had brought their lunches outside on

"Oh don't worry about those," Marie said with a smile "We'll take 'em in," she offered. Drachen gave her a grateful smile as she rose to follow Jean towards the mansion.

"This is our hospital, I'm not sure if Storm would have thought to show it to you on your tour this morning," Jean said with a small smile

"It must have slipped her mind," Drachen answered cordially, looking around at the mostly stark room with interest. It seemed like two different decorators had been hired to work over the mansion. This room was obviously where the second decorator had come in.

"The professor and Logan both have asked that I complete a full physical examination of you before we examine the extent of your powers."

"Are you a doctor?" Drachen asked, slightly suspicious of the woman's intentions in light of her obvious disapproval of her and Logan's relationship.

"Yes I am, I graduated top of my class from Metro College."

"Then why are you working here?" Drachen asked, incredulous "You could have any position in the country," Jean smiled softly

"The mansion is my home; the Professor is like a father to me. Besides, I enjoy teaching. It's very fulfilling." Drachen raised her eyebrows at the last comment. This woman was obviously nuts.

"You can change behind that screen if you'd like?" Jean offered "We'll get the physical examination over with first, and then we can get you back into your clothes. I know the hospital is not the warmest of places." Drachen did as she was bade and moved behind the screen, changing into a pale green hospital gown. Steeping out she moved to where Jean gestured, sliding onto the examination table. Drachen took another look around the cold bright room. It was like no hospital she'd ever seen, looking more like a lab then a sick room.

"Now Logan indicated that you may have some injures." Jean queried, raising the clipboard in her hand

"Yeah, my ribs were fractured in a bar fight," Drachen watched as a look of shock mixed with disapproval appeared on Jean's face

Guess Logan failed to fill her in on the specifics, she thought sardonically.

"They were healing good when, I, I fell. Well actually," Drachen began, a bit more honestly "Those Brotherhood goons tried to grab me. I don't remember what happened much before the attack, and I'm not really to clear on what happened afterwards." She watched as Jean made some more notes on her clipboard. Drachen winced as Jean slipped her hands into the robe and felt along her ribs. She pressed harder and Drachen hissed in pain.

"Sorry," Jean said. Jean continued the physical examination, feeling along Drachen's spine and rotating her arm. Finally she allowed her to close her robe and took her bloods.

"You can go and get changed now," Jean offered, turning her back on the examination table as she made further notes. Drachen slipped off the table and headed back behind the screen.

"Your ribs are healing well," Jean called out while Drachen was getting re-dressed "I wouldn't lift anything too heavy for a while, but your primary mobility is not currently being impeded, which bodes well for a full recovery and continued natural movement." Drachen shot Jean a look from behind the curtain. She knew it couldn't be seen, but it made her feel better all the same. Really, what was the point of using all those big words just to say that her ribs were doing fine? Which she had known anyway? Shoving her feet back into her motorcycle boots, and not bothering to buckle them up Drachen stepped out from behind the screen and made her way back to the examination table.

"Are you one any medication at the moment?" Jean queried as Drachen settle herself on the steel table. Drachen wondered if she should remind the woman that she had barely had enough money to buy food for the last half year, but even if she did Drachen had a feeling that the doctor wouldn't quite get it. It was hard for people who lived comfortably to imagine that others were not. Drachen should know, she'd been just like her once.

"No," she answered honestly with a clipped smile

"Not even a contraceptive?" Jean asked, in a somewhat pointed way. Drachen didn't like the turn this conversation was taking.

"Not even contraception," Drachen answered with a smirk "I like it all natural," she added. If the bitch wanted something to sniff about she'd give it to her

"Well," Jean said with a disapproving look on her face "I'm sure that's up to you. I just hope you fully realize the consequences of your actions. Teen pregnancy isn't in style this season," Jean said waspishly

"Good thing I'm not a teenager anymore then." Drachen answered icily "Are we done?" Without waiting for an answer Drachen rose and headed for the door. There was only so much preaching she could take. She had no doubt that Jean thought the only true method on contraception was abstinence, at least until marriage. And Drachen conceded that this was true. However like most of the good things in life, it was hardly fun.


	14. Chapter fourteen

Disclaimer: I don't own the recognizable characters or places mentioned in this obvious work of fiction.

Enjoy and leave feedback if you are so inclined.

* * *

Logan found Drachen sitting near the lake under and old oak tree. She had her legs drawn up to her chest and was resting her chin on her knees. He silently joined her and after a moment put an arm around her shoulder. Drachen tensed for a second, but quickly melted into his embrace

"They're very nosey here," Drachen said eventually

"Don't I know it," Logan muttered darkly, "I'm sure there at least three different rumors going around about us at the moment. How was your check up?" he asked, concern coloring his words. Logan had noticed that Drachen hadn't been favoring her side lately, but he was still worried about the damage to her ribs, especially so soon after their first fracture.

Drachen felt an unaccustomed warmth spread through her chest at his obvious concern, tempered only by the memory of her run in with the good doctor.

"Oh great," Drachen muttered "It was full of examination tables and cold hands and lectures," she said as she thought back on her lunchtime escapades and the red headed doctor who had captained them. She remembered again the look that Jean had given Logan upon their arrival. Wide, rich, inviting, warm… too warm. A surge of jealously caused her heart to clench painfully in her chest

"Speaking or rumors," Drachen began, sounding unaccustomly waspish "Your psycho ex-girlfriend may now be assuming that we're sleeping together," Logan choked at her words, he thought back to the last woman he'd slept with, some cage rat that had looked cleaner then most and managed to engage his attention for a night or two, surely…

"My who?" He asked in confusion, not sure what Drachen was getting at_._

"The red headed doctor that looks at you like you're a candy bar, and looks at me like I'm dirt," she shot a sideways glance at Logan who seemed to be struggling to find words. She saw his confusion replaced by understanding, and was that guilt?

Drachen could feel herself growing angrier by the second, especially after she'd caught that fleeting look of guilt slip across Logan's face. Her ire only increased as she thought back on what had occurred that day. He stomach clenched tightly and she felt her skin begin to flush, as warmth crept up her neck and colored her cheeks.

"She's not my ex-girlfriend." Logan protested, wondering if Drachen had seen his too warm greeting with Jean. Surely she would have recognized that he was only messing with One-Eye? Surely. "She's just a friend, a married friend," he tried to justify futilely. Drachen's eyebrows rose at this pronouncement, and she snapped

"Could have fooled me. She's overprotective enough to be your sister, but she looks at you like you're a piece of steak," The last came out almost like a growl and it occurred to Drachen's rational mind that she may be getting a little more worked up then the situation actually warranted. She hadn't seen anything untoward after all. Despite this she couldn't seem to stop this train-wreck of a conversation hurtling towards its inevitable and catastrophic end.

Their heated discussion was interrupted with the arrival of Ororo and Logan took advantage of the opportunity her entrance afforded to stand.

"I'm gunna catch you later," he said with an uncomfortable smile, wondering what exactly Jean had said to Drachen to make her this upset

"Oh Logan, you don't have to leave, I'm just going to introduce Drake to her new teacher and-" Ororo watched as Logan grimaced.

"Yeah, 'Ro, I think I'll just leave you girls too it," he started walking away, but turned before he reached the trees

"I'll catch you at dinner Drake?" he said almost in apology, hoping she might have cooled down by then. It would also give him some time to try and figure out what or who had made her so upset. She'd been fine when they were travelling together, and they'd both been happy at how things between them seemed to be progressing. Drachen tried to smile; knowing that his discomfort was her fault, and that once again she'd managed to push him away because of her own insecurities

"Sure," she answered, wilting a little inside. Logan gave her a quirk of lips in return and headed back towards the mansion. Drachen stared after him, wondering if his acute hearing could pick up the sound of her heart cracking.

Ororo lowered herself onto the weathered bench, taking Logan's place. She hadn't failed to notice the tension between the couple, or the argument that had been cut short with her arrival. They sat silently for a moment, watching as the amber leaves rained silently down creating a crunchy flame colored carpet.

"You shouldn't let rumor effect you so much," Ororo said finally "Or the opinions of others." Drachen's head swung around in shock and she wondered how much of their conversation the white haired woman had overheard.

"Yeah well, sometimes they're screaming them so loud you have no choice but to listen," Drachen muttered. Ororo reached out and placed a cool hand on her shoulder, squeezing gently.

"You always have a choice, Drake. And that choice is the only thing in life sometimes, that cannot be taken away from us," Drachen turned her head aside, letting her curls slip across her face to hide her sudden flush of tears. Tears of frustration at her own inability to let Logan get close to her, but also in fear that this time might be the time that she had pushed him too far away.

"I would tell you a story, if you would hear it?" Drachen turned her eyes back towards Ororo, thrown slightly by the perceived change in topic and trying to surreptitiously wipe her eyes

"Of course," she answered, slightly confused. Ororo smiled at the perplexed expression Drachen was trying to hide

"I was born in a poor village in Kenya. I came from a large family and we farmed goats in the good seasons, and anything we could in the bad. My mother came from a proud line of sorceresses. They called her a princess above women, but that seldom kept us fed," Ororo offered a small smile "I was twelve years old when I was married to my tribes witch-doctor," she said quietly looking out towards the lake "My parents were furious. You see they had birth promised me to a family from a desert clan in the north. But I was a headstrong child, and I loved him with a child's intensity, but a woman's desire. He had two other wives and many more children." She looked over at Drachen, whose confusion had turned to interest "I was what they called a Twilight Wife. The woman a man takes in his waning years for pleasure and comfort, rather then for status or children. And I did love him, though many now would be scandalized to hear it." Ororo shifted a little on the wooden bench, trying to make herself more comfortable "They fail to understand that the wants of the heart often do not confirm to the constrictions of age. The honor and blessings he bestowed upon me were great. And I was nothing if not grateful." Drachen watched as Ororo swallowed painfully, her eyes skimming across the falling leaves "We were happy, for a while, and in the end my family came to accept my decision. You see Drake, if you truly love someone above all others, than you owe it to yourselves to stand firm, to stand by them. For if you let them go, well, you mat never have another chance," Ororo paused for breath "My husband died of a fever during my thirteenth winter. And when they gave his body to the gods the sky cried out in agony with me," Ororo's eyes left hers, once again tracking the leaves as the blew across the lake

"Why did you tell me this?" Drachen asked, moved by Ororo's story and the pain that was in her eyes, even all these years later.

"Because I know what it is like to love against the wishes of others," Ororo watched as Drachen hunched her shoulders inside her jacket, a denial already forming on her lips

"It is your choice what road you take. Always remember that. But know this too – in love, as in life, there will be times that you must bend like the Serengeti grass and times that you must stand firm as the mountains." There conversation was interrupted by the crunch of leaves under feet, and both women looked up to see a slouching boy coming along the path. He looked to be in his late teens and Drachen couldn't tell what was bigger, his ego or his attitude.

Dear god don't let this be my teacher, Drachen thought pensively, trying resolutely to push thoughts of Logan and love from her mind

Storm confirmed her fears with her next words, which were a little too bright

"And here is your teacher now!" The boy came to a stop a few feet from their bench. He stuck his hands in his pockets and looked her up and down. Drachen returned his perusal, unimpressed by what she saw

"Drake, this is John. John, this is Drake, your new student," Ororo offered by way of introduction.

"Hey," John offered, flipping his hair from his eyes, which seemed to be sitting somewhere below her face right now

"Hi," Drachen offered slightly louder then necessary, trying to bring his attention back up to her face. This kid was already getting on her nerves

"Well I'll leave you two alone," Ororo said, rising "Remember, just the basics to start off with, the Professor will be keeping a weather eye on you," Ororo's lips quirked at her little joke, "And Drake?" Drachen turned towards Ororo "Remember what I said. We always have a choice. The right one is not always the easiest," with that she turned and walked away, white locks whipping in the breeze.

"So, Drake hey?" Her new teacher said with a smirk "Isn't that a guy name?"

"So I've heard," Drachen said, smiling through clenched teeth "Obviously, however, I am not a guy," she watched as his eyes once more sank to her cleavage

"Oh I can tell that," he said with a cocky smirk "So Ms M says that you're a fire starter?" he said, his voice colored with arrogance. Drachen took an involuntary step backwards as John's open hand suddenly held a flaming torch, courtesy of a small silver lighter. He smirked again and began flipping his hands around, making the flames jump and dance. The column split and John was left with two spinning balls of fire sitting bare inches above his skin. Drachen felt a sting of envy at the ease at which he manipulated the flames

"That's amazing," she breathed, entranced. John offered a true smile at her praise and it struck Drachen that when he wasn't scowling, smirking, or sulking John had quite pleasant features. He completed his hand movements with a flourish and the flaming balls disappeared.

"Your control is amazing," Drachen said with a smile. John shrugged uncomfortably and walked back towards her.

"So, now I've shown you mine," He said with a leer "It's only fair you show me yours…"

Two hours later Drachen was singed, scowling and steaming, and not necessarily in that order. John was also no longer speaking to her, and had left her to make her own way back to the mansion. Drachen couldn't remember if it was because she'd called him an emotionally-retarded-teenager-with-delusions-of-grandeur-and-absolutely-no-chance-in-hell-of-getting-into-her-pants that he'd left, or if she'd called him that because he left. Regardless Drachen had been on her own for the remainder of the afternoon and had, after checking the surrounds thoroughly, indulged herself in a fit of frustrated hysterical tears. Her 'lessons' had started off well enough. John, for all of his ridiculous posturing, had taught her some breathing techniques to calm her mind. They had then moved onto working on summoning a flame. And that's where things had started to fall apart.

It turned out that John and Drachen summoned their internal fires differently. Where as John was unable to summon true fire, he could control it deftly and completely. Drachen herself could summon true fire, but that's where the problems started, because that's where Drachen stalled. No matter how hard she tried she couldn't summon a flame. She tried to think back to how it had happened before, tried to visualize a catalyst, but the harder she tried, the more frustrated she became, and the more frustrated she became the less she wanted to try. It was a vicious cycle that had culminated in a roaring argument with her new 'teacher' and left her feeling more frustrated with her lack of progress then before they had started their lessons.

Sniffing delicately Drachen took a finally swipe at her eyes and turned back towards the mansion. Her stomach was tight, her head was pounding and there was an ache in her heart. Squaring her shoulders Drachen went in search of Logan.

….

Post scriptum: I have recently seen Wolverine (finally) after purchasing the Quadrilogy (can't actually believe that's a word, let alone actually printed on the boxed set [which is fricken expensive, let me tell you]). I actually enjoyed it, sort of; at least there was lots of almost nekkid boys, which beefed up my happiness levels. Regardless, in answer to a previous review (which I couldn't reply to as they didn't log in [log in next time so I can reply to your comments! I like giving feed back on my feedback]) I now know that Logan had bone claws. So I'm fixing that scene. I really appreciate all my reviews so far and encourage all of my new followers who've added me to their Story Alerts to drop me a line and tell what they think so far.


	15. Chapter fifteen

Disclaimer: I don't own the recognizable characters or places mentioned in this obvious work of fiction.

Enjoy and leave feedback if you are so inclined.

For those of you wondering at the sudden drop in quality of my chapters, my Beta is somewhat behind in her reviewing due to the fact that she has a 'real' life. For some reason she has refused to be my slave, chained up daily in my donga for my pleasure. I can't understand it, so I'm learning patience in the interim.

* * *

Jean rapped lightly on the oak door and smiled when she felt the delicate touch of the Professor's mind inviting her in. He was seated, as usual, behind the walnut desk that dominated half of his study, thumbing through a sheaf of papers.

"Ah, my dear, come in," he said with a smile, placing the papers back on his desk.

"Professor," Jean said warmly in greating as her mentor came out from behind the desk to join her at the group of low chairs situated under the large bay window. Jean took a moment to settle herself as her eyes wandered across the glimpse of grounds offered by the glass.

"And how is our newest student doing?" Professor Xavier inquired with a smile, nothing his protégée's distraction.

"Well I'm sure you're more aware of that then I," Jean offered in return and Professor Xavier smiled at her obvious attempt at fishing for information. While he was often privy to things not commonly known by the majority of the X-Men, he was by no means as psychic as Jean assumed.

"The 'teaching session' certainly turned out to by fiery," he admitted with a chuckle, thinking back to the disagreement between Drachen and John and its angry conclusion

"Are you certain that's wise? Having a student training a student?" Jean questioned, uncertainty coloring her tone. She really didn't think it was appropriate. Normally, with a power like Drachen's an older, more experienced mentor would be found, usually a teacher, or an ex student that had moved onto other things.

"We use what tools we have to hand, my dear, and I honestly think those two may be good for each other," the Professor said with smile and a twinkle in his eye

"Well, John would have to be better then Logan," Jean bit out, and Professor Xavier raised an eyebrow in mild reproof

"Jean," he gently admonished, "I would not have expected bigotry from you, of all people," Jean felt herself bristle slightly at the trace of disappointment in his tone

"What? No, it's just-" she began to deny before Professor Xavier cut her off

"Logan deserves happiness just as much as any other person, more so in many instances," he stated firmly

"She's just a child," Jean protested, unable to believe that the Professor was siding against her on this issue

"She is the same age Scott was when you and he began your relationship," the Professor reminded her gently

"Professor that's different, surely you see how inappropriate-" Professor Xavier raised a hand, effectively cutting her off

"I fail to see anything inappropriate about this Jean. Both parties are over the age of consent and both are guests of this Institution. Now," he said, ending further discussion on the matter of the validity of Logan and Drachen's relationship "Can you give me an update on Drachen's progress health wise? Logan has indicated to me some concerns in relation to an injury she had recently sustained."

Jean closed her eyes and took a breath to settle her previously ruffled feelings. Running through a quick meditation technique she focused on clearing her mind and body of any and all negative emotions. When she opened her eyes she was greeted by the calm and smiling visage of the Professor Xavier. Jean opened the file she had been compiling in relation to their newest student.

"As you are aware Professor, Drachen's full name as listed on her birth certificate reads Drachen Ashley McCarthy. She is the only daughter of the late Cheryn and Peter McCarthy who were killed last year in a mysterious house fire. Logan has provided us with information indicating that the Brotherhood may be involved in their demise, specifically a metamorph, most likely Raven Darkholm, code name Mystique." Jean paused for breath and after a moment Professor Xavier nodded for her to continue, "From my examination is seems that some previous trauma to Drachen's ribcage has occurred, however it is healing well. This is probably due to the increased healing factor her body has as a result of her mutation. Her healing factor in no way compares to someone like Logan, or even Theresa Cassidy, but it is working at an increased level, especially when viewed beside that of a 'normal' human," Jean paused again to flick out another piece of paper "Her primary mutation is control over fire, unlike St. John Allerdyce, Drachen is able to take advantage of the fire tetrahedron, primarily the three components required for combustion to occur; atmosphere, which is primarily environmental, fuel, in the form of a secreted accelerant, and heat in the minute vibrations given off by her wrists. These happen on an almost undetectable level, but cumulate in gaseous fireballs. The only drawback being she is unable to operate in an environment with less then fifteen percent oxygen." Jean finished. She fiddled briefly with the file and then readjusted her reading glasses.

"Understandable," Professor Xavier murmured encouragingly

"There are obvious defense applications to this mutation which may be one of the reasons the Brotherhood is pursuing her, however Logan has indicated to me a much more sinister reason." Jean looked over at Professor Xavier, her expression one of concern "Apparently there is a possibility the this girl has either been exposed to or may know the location of the Mutant Registration Act." Professor Xavier nodded gravely

"Ah yes. Mystique must have been so disappointed to learn that Senator Kelly was not in possession of the Registration Act when she assumed his identity," Professor Xavier said with a small smile. Jean offered him one of her own before continuing.

"After speaking to Logan on this subject and doing some further research I believe this to be the motivating force behind the Brotherhood's pursuit of her."

"Now that is worrying news, and something that I will need to look into further," Professor Xavier announced. Jean rose at the implied dismissal in his tone, which was softened by his smile.

"Thank you for coming and seeing me today my dear," Professor Xavier said, as his wheelchair traveled back behind his desk. Jean smiled as she gathered her things together

"Shall we expect you at dinner Professor?" she asked quietly, moving towards the door.

"Perhaps," he answered, somewhat distractedly "I'll let you know." With a parting smile Jean quietly left the office.

She was surrounded by flames, burning, tickling, licking tongues of flame. Safe and warm. No worries, no fears. Just her. Here. A fierce joy was spreading through her chest. This was her place, and hers alone. With each beat of her heart the temperature increased. It was hot now, suffocatingly hot, and the noise was growing. But she liked it. Loved it. Loved the feel of burning treacle on her skin. The noise was increasing, multiplying ten fold, it was all around her, encasing her. Through the flames she could see a group of figures. Interlopers! Thieves, here, in her safe place, here to steal her warmth, her flames. She let out a silent cry as her flames increased in heat. She watched in fierce pleasure as their skin blistered and burned, their muscles spasmed and melted away, and their bones cracked and blackened. They were still screaming as the ashes of their thieving shells were consumed. And then she was alone again. Safe and alone. But wait, what was that? She could feel a change. There was more noise…Crying? What? There was someone else here! Here in her sanctuary! More Interlopers!

_Drachen. Drachen child. You must wake up. Wake up my child. Come back to us._

She felt her mind twist as the voice rang like a bell in her head. It disrupted her burning anger and the fierce joy started to dissipate. Here she was safe, here she was powerful and free. She didn't want to go back to the other place.

_Drachen. Drachen you have to wake up now. You have to come back to us. Drachen. You're scaring your fellow students._

The nameless thing, once known as Drachen, tried to swat the voice away. She was warm and happy. Why should she wake up? Why? When here was so nice?

_Drachen, please?_

It was the please that did it.

Slowly she opened her eyes. She was seated Indian style on her bed, and she had no idea how she had gotten into that position. One of her new roommates, Lilla, Drachen recalled, was pressed up against the far wall, arms held protectively over her light green face.

"What?" Drachen croaked out, surprised to find herself so parched "What's wrong?" she said in a dry whisper. The shaking girl lowered her arms and Drachen could see tear tracks on her cheeks.

"You –," the girl shook so much she had to take a second breath "You were on fire," her eyes were so wide in her skull that Drachen could see the whites glowing in the semi darkness, "You were burning. The bed, the wall… it was all on fire." Drachen looked around the room carefully, nothing the un-scorched walls and bed. She was about to contradict the girl and suggest that perhaps she had been having a nightmare herself when she heard footsteps moving rapidly towards their door. They paused, and the door swung open quietly, causing Drachen to squint at the sudden increase in light.

"Ororo?" Drachen asked in confusion, as the white haired woman stood in the entrance

"Drake," she said with a small smile "Will you come with me please?" Seeing Drachen's look of concern she continued, "You're not in trouble, but the Professor would like to speak with you," Drachen rose and wrapped a light robe around her shoulders. It was Japanese in design, black silk with a picture of a drake in flight embroidered on the back. Logan's little joke, but it helped calm the nerves that had suddenly overtaken her. Belting the silk tightly she tried to smile at the girl in the corner, who wouldn't meet her eyes. Squaring her shoulders Drachen pushed the hunched figure out of her mind and turned to follow Ororo from the room.

_Come in,_ the voice echoed inside her mind, and Drachen's eyes widened as they met those of Ororo.

"Its okay," the older woman said reassuringly "Go on in," placing her hand on the small of Drachen's back she gave her a small push forward. With shaking fingers Drachen pulled down the handle of the oak door and with one last look back at Ororo, slipped inside. Drachen tried not to show her surprise at the interior of the office, and her stomach settled somewhat at the smile the older gentlemen bestowed upon her. He was sitting behind a dark wooden desk illuminated by a pool of yellow light coming from an old bankers lamp.

"Come here child, come and sit with me," he said quietly, indicating a leather chair arranged on the opposite side of the desk "My name is Professor Charles Xavier, and I am the founder and administrator of this institution."

"I, um, hi." Drachen offered, and even to her own ears it sounded like a lame response. The Professor simply smiled, sensing her discomfort and working to put her at ease

"I must offer you my apologies Drachen, for not having a chance to meet with you before this. I have been unfortunately delayed with issues of… administration," he said

"Oh, that's cool, I mean, I guess it would take up a fair bit of time, running a school this big," Drachen said haltingly, not put out at all that the Professor had waited to introduce himself. If she were honest she had not even expected that much. She had never actually met the principal of her finishing school and could count the number of times on one hand she had met her high school principal.

"That it does." The Professor agreed "I suppose you're wondering why I asked you here, especially at this time of night, or rather," he shot a look at the wall clock, "Morning,"

"I, I had wondered, I mean…" a thought occurred to Drachen "I was having a nightmare," she offered quietly, stomach sinking in realization. She felt her throat tighten again as an uneasy feeling crawled up her spine

"And what a nightmare it was my dear. Your poor roommate was quite traumatized," Drachen felt a wave of guilt crash over her, what had happened? It was only a nightmare, wasn't it? It couldn't have been real… could it?

"Sometimes," the Professor offered quietly, seeming to read her mind "Our nightmares have a way of finding their way into the real world."

"You mean," she whispered, voice cracking "The fire? It was real?"

"It was very real my dear. Has this ever happened to you before?" the Professor asked, concerned.

"No, I mean, I had a few, after," she swallowed thickly, "After It happened. But Logan never said anything,"

"Well perhaps it has to do with the recent stressors that you have been experiencing, the death of your parents for one, not to mention your mutation becoming active so late in your life. Drachen, did you know that most humans have mutant potential?"

"Really?" Drachen asked, confused at the sudden change of tact, but interested despite herself,

"Its true," Professor Xavier conceded, "Most humans carry the dormant genes, which in some few people result in mutation. Until recently you yourself only had 'potential'," he said with a smile

"I sort of figured that, I mean, don't most of these mutations happen around, well puberty?" Drachen said, slightly uncomfortable with the current topic

"Usually yes, however the human body is an amazing organism. Evolution itself is equally amazing. It can happen through one of two avenues, the naturally occurring growth of an organism in response to its surrounding environment, or rapidly, sometimes during periods of extreme stress. It has been indicated to me that you recently underwent a near death experience," the Professor said, raising an eyebrow

"Yeah," Drachen confirmed, wondering just how much Logan had told these people.

"Dr Gray thinks that the trauma and stress of this experience has activated your dormant genes, thereby activating your mutation. This is why you now find yourself in your current position, and one of the reasons we're sitting here at the moment," the Professor paused for breath

"I was 'watching' yesterday, when you had your first training session with our Pyro," he began un-accusingly

"Ah, yeah," Drachen said, suddenly nervous. It retrospect, her behavior yesterday left a lot to be desired. She wondered how much the kindly man seated behind the large desk had seen

"No one expects you to be proficient in your new mutation straight away. In fact, it often takes years of training to become proficient in all aspects of your gift. The only person who seems to expect you to have mastered this new power in the space of a mere twenty-four hours is you," he chastised gently "You need to show more patience, both for yourself and your ability to control your powers, and in your teacher who, though new to the role, has volunteered his time to help you,"

"Yes Sir," Drachen whispered, highly embarrassed. He offered her a forgiving smile

"I understand that it must be quite difficult for you to adjust to life here, and so quickly as well. However I think from now on it may be easier if we reassign you a room in the guest quarters. And while I don't usually concern myself with the private lives of my students, I hope it may also ease any tensions you may be having in that area," Drachen noticed that the Professor looked distinctly uncomfortable, but she appreciated the sentiment, all the more because it was unexpected. At least he wasn't calling her a teenage whore and telling her she was going to Hell.

"If as you've said these nightmares aren't a recurring issues, at least not in the extreme, perhaps somewhere you are more comfortable may help reduce their impact?" Professor Xavier hypothesized aloud

"That, that sounds great Sir," Drachen said with a smile. The Professor offered her a small smile in return.

"Finally Drachen, I have made some enquiries on your behalf. Are you aware that there is a substantial fortune available for your use in relation to your father's estate? You could be a very wealthy young woman." Professor Xavier said, opening a file on his desk. He continued by rattling off some numbers relation to bank accounts and death benefits.

"No." Drachen answered firmly, "I'm not that girl," she denied

"I assure you Drachen, you have nothing to fear from coming forward in a legal sense," Professor Xavier reassured, reaching out to pat her hand

"No," Drachen said, more firmly this time "Money, in my experience, has never made anyone I've known, very happy," she rose resolutely "My name is Drake Professor Xavier. Drachen Ashley died in a fire almost a year ago. It was a tragedy, but its over now. She's being buried next week; I saw it on the news. Let her rest in peace," she said firmly "Now if you don't mind?" Drachen asked quietly, turning to leave

"If that is your final decision then I can only abide by that." Professor Xavier said regretfully, closing the file, "Are you aware of the location of Logan's room?" He asked. Drachen blushed, but nodded her confirmation "Your new room is next to his, there's even a connecting door," he said with a smile "Don't stay up all night," Professor Xavier cautioned, with a twinkle in his eye, seemingly unperturbed by her refusal to claim what many would see as her birthright "You have more lessons in the use of your mutation tomorrow."

"Can't wait," Drachen quipped over her shoulder as she slipped out the door.


	16. Chapter sixteen

Disclaimer: I don't own the recognizable characters or places mentioned in this obvious work of fiction.

Enjoy and leave feedback if you are so inclined.

Sorry for the Skip Week readers, but sometimes a little recharge is needed.

* * *

Logan turned over in his bed with a groan that was neared to a growl. The day had not gone well. The kitchen had run out of steak, he'd had an argument with Drachen and then when he'd gone to find Jean to sort out whatever shit she'd started he'd been waylaid by 'Ro who had started talking about destiny and true love and 'battling on' or some shit. With a silent snarl Logan sat up in bed. He'd never had trouble sleeping before now. True, his nightmares never let him sleep for long, but getting to sleep had never been an issue before. Before now, before her. Two short fucking months and she was so far under his skin he couldn't sleep without her. A small part of Logan was angry at this, the rest just wanted her back. Back in his bed and back in his arms. He'd been working so hard not to rush her, trying to give her time, while the Wolverine inside him roared and salivated at the thought of tasting her flesh. Logan locked down tighter on his personal demon. He'd had years to alternatively embrace and enslave the creature within. There was no way he was letting his wilder instincts scare off his mate. Even if it was damn hard at times.

Logan cocked his head at the almost inaudible sound. In the blink of an eye Logan had swung his feet off the bed and unsheathed his claws. With a soft click the door opened and began to slowly swing inwards. Her scent hit him before she spoke a single word and he inhaled.

"L-Logan?" Drachen said quietly peering into the pitch-dark room "Are you awake?" A flash of eyes was all the answer she needed as she slipped further into the room

"Hey," she said quietly, slipping into the bed next to him, "I missed you at dinner," Drachen offered after a moment, wondering if he was still mad about the argument she had started earlier in the day.

"No steak." The rumbled came out of the darkness and Drachen felt Logan's arms wrap around her. With a sigh she settled back into their embrace.

"I'm sorry," she said; voice no louder then a whisper

"About what?" Logan asked wondering how it could be her fault that the kitchen had run out of meat

"The argument," Drachen said, feel her stomach clench in unease and her cheeks heat in embarrassment at her earlier behavior "It's just," Drachen tried to explain, glad for the darkness covering her blushes "I've never had anything thing that was mine before. Anyone. And the thought of loosing you, having someone take you away from me. It kills me Logan. It kills me and it makes me so god damn angry that I could burn the world," Drachen said fiercely, fingers clutching the sheets convulsively "Do you know what its like to know that at any second you could destroy the world?"

"I have an idea," Logan offender quietly. Drachen continued on as if he hadn't spoken

"And do you know what's worse?" She asked, "Sometimes I want to. In my dreams, they all burn, and I don't just enjoy it, the power, the darkness. I love it, Logan. I love it. In my dreams." Drachen finished softly, drawing her knees up to her chest and moving away from Logan's embrace. Logan's response to her confession was clear and left no room for doubt. He reached out savagely and drew her back to him until her smaller frame was cradled firmly against his chest.

"I didn't know about the dreams. The nightmares," Logan said quietly, almost in apology. He felt annoyed at himself for not paying more attention. How had he missed this?

"You had your own nightmares to deal with, why would I burden you with mine?" Drachen said, voice soft, but holding no tone of accusation.

"Still, I should have tried -" Logan started to say before Drachen cut in

"I don't blame you Logan, I just, I just wanted you to know," Logan looked across at the woman who was his mate. His sharp eyes and keen nose catching the silent tear tracks that were hidden by the darkness

"I love you Drachen. You know that, right?" Logan said after a moment, the Wolverine inside wondering what he was doing saying such things. The man knew however, that he would do anything to keep her with him. Even say the unthinkable.

"I know," Drachen said quietly, heart swelling at his affirmation "It's just that, sometimes this all seems like a dream I had once," she paused, almost lost in thought "And I forget," she finished quietly

"You're mine," Logan growled "Always. For as long as we have."

"Always," Drachen echoed, settling further into Logan's embrace, her eyes slowly closing as sleep took her. Always.

Drachen smiled when she spotted Marie waiting for her outside the Observatory that today was being utilized as an English classroom. Ororo, rather then having her either repeat or follow up on the courses she had already completed, had offered her the opportunity to focus on one or two subjects of interest and then pursue them though collage if she chose. Currently Drachen was helping some of the younger children who were struggling with their lessons while she thought over the proposal. Surprisingly enough, she was enjoying herself, which made her wonder a little about her future career choices.

"Hey," Marie called as she made her way towards her along the hall,

"Hey Marie," Drachen offered in return, "Who's this?" she asked as she noticed the short Asian girl beside her new friend. The girl was dressed in a garish ensemble in eye-smarting yellow cut with black.

"This is Jubilation Lee, we call her Jubes," Marie offered, introducing the bouncing girl at her side

"Hey Chica! I've been dying to meet you ever since Rougey here told me about you and Wolvie-" the last was chocked off slightly as a horrified Marie elbowed her friend in the side

"I mean, since you like, got here and all," she offered a with a wide smile

"Um, thanks," Drachen said, grimacing slightly "I think…"

"Why don't we go and grab some lunch?" Marie said brightly, trying to steer the conversation onto safer ground.

"Oh my god girl, that's is like, the best thing I've heard since breakfast!" Exclaimed Jubilee as they made their way to lunch,

"So Drake," the young Asian girl said with a smile "How do you like the Mansion so far?" Without waiting for an answer Jubilee set about explaining how she had found the Mansion when she'd fist arrived as well as detailing the evolution of her friendship with Marie, interspaced with more 'Like's' 'Ya-know's' and 'Chica's' then Drachen thought to ever hear in one conversation. Jubilee's explanation was so detailed that it carried the girls down the hall into the dining room, through their lunch selection and out into the early winter sunshine.

"You know you're just being so like great about the whole Ms Grey and Wolvie thing, like I so couldn't be all puttin' up with having my man work with his like, ex-greatest-love-ever," Jubilation said in a rush, taking another bite of her sandwich.

Drachen wondered if that was the reason she was so tiny, because she spent so much time talking that she never had a chance to eat. Seeing the look on Drachen's face and noting it mirrored on the face of her best friend Jubilation continued

"Not that like, there is anything going on with them now, 'cause like, Ms Grey was always Mr Summer's despite her flirting habit, and the way that Wolvie looks at you leaves like, no doubt that he's yours, 'cause like honestly, he never really looked at Ms Grey that way," Jubilation turned to Marie with a scowl "Down girl, stop like, elbowing me, I'm just saying, its not like she's gunna get offended," Jubilation turned to Drachen "You're not offended right?" She demanded. Drachen opened her mouth to respond, but Jubilation simply kept going if she'd already answered in the negative "See," This was directed at Marie "You like, so need to lighten up. I knew that Drake was like, a bigger person then that. Anyway, like I was saying, anyone seeing you and her together would like, so pick you, and that's not even taking into account Wolvie's good taste. Besides, she's like, way to skinny," Jubilation finished triumphantly, as if this statement sorted everything

"You're also skinny," Drachen pointed out dryly, utterly bemused by her new friends monologue

"Yeah but I'm Asian, it goes with the territory. Just like great food and hotness," Drachen and Marie burst out laughing at this, but beneath her laughter Drachen felt a small twinge. She knew that Logan loved her especially after last night, but that didn't mean she wanted Logan's past… interests rubbed in her face.

"So Drake, how are your lessons going?" Marie asked when they had settled back down to eat. Drachen wrinkled her nose at Marie as she swallowed the last of her wrap

"Yeah, not too bad," she admitted with a grimace. Seeing her expression Marie raised an eyebrow. Drachen give a shrug, continuing, "It could be better. I actually have another lesson this afternoon," she said dejectedly, the mere thought of it making her wilt a little

"Wo girl, hold up with all that enthusiasm you got going on there," Jubilation quipped. Drachen gave an uncomfortable laugh and ran a hand through her wild curls

"Yeah, well, you'd understand my pain if you know my teacher," Drachen tried to explain

"Oh Drake, that's unfair, I know John aint the best teacher, but I'm sure he's trying," Marie scolded in her soft Southern accent

"Tying, you got it in one." Drachen quipped back

"Not to like, rain on your party, Chica, but he comes the Ponce of Darkness now," Jubilation said in a quite sing-song voice. Well, in what passed as a quite voice for Jubilation.

"Hey," John offered, looking down at the group of girls suspiciously, but unable to pull his eyes from Drachen's bloody curls.

"Hey," Drachen muttered uncomfortably, remembering the Professor's advice and trying to smile. Standing she brushed invisible blades of grass off her jeans and then turned to her new friends.

"I'll see you guys later?" she asked with a smile.

"We'll save you some desert Chica," Jubilation offered. Drachen smiled in response and then turned to follow John towards the lake, which was their unofficial training spot. John had explained previously that the Danger Room, a room normally dedicated to training and combat was currently being used by Logan to put the Mansion's fighters through their paces, which meant that they were out in the cold. Literally. Drachen shivered as a gust of wind managed to find its way inside her jacket. The piles of gently falling leaves were no more, with the trees surrounding the lake showing only bare branches to the sky, their leafy dresses now lost to the wind.

Settling down on a blanket that had been strategically placed between the lakeshore and the tree line. John took her hand as they sat down to meditate and Drachen had to work at stopping herself flinching. John flashed her what she was she he thought was a devastating smile.

"I thought this might help with your concentration," John offered smiling. Drachen tried not to squirm at his touch, but was willing to try. With the Professor's words again ringing in her mind she began to focus on nothing at all…

Drachen came to herself a while later, and couldn't suppress a triumphant smile. She felt relaxed and confident. John's sweet smile echoed hers as he shared her triumph

"Are you ready to practice now?" he asked with a smile. Drachen gave him an echoing smile in return and threw herself into her lesson feeling more confident of her progress then she ever had before.


	17. Chapter seventeen

Disclaimer: I don't own the recognizable characters or places mentioned in this obvious work of fiction.

Enjoy and leave feedback if you are so inclined.

* * *

Drachen could feel sweat gathering at the back of her neck and sliding down her spine, but she ignored it, focusing on the spinning ball of flame in front of her. The size of a large apple it hung suspended above her hands, which she held suspended in front of her chest. It had taken her all afternoon to get this far and she was elated at her progress. Exhausted, but elated. With concentration Drachen thought she could duplicate this afternoons feat, but in less time it had taken today. She had the feel of it now, the clench and release and pull of her internal energies. Finally she was mastering her powers; finally she was in control, finally…

"He's too old for you, you know," John said softly, but even this muttered comment was enough to break her concentration. Drachen turned to him angrily, not sure if she was more upset about the comment or the fact that it had broken her fragile concentration, and with it her grasp of her power

"Damn you, you bastard!" Drachen snarled, all promises of controlling her temper forgotten. John ignored the insult and continued

"It's not like you don't know he's gunna outlive you. Everyone knows about his healing ability. Even if you've got a drop of the same type of healing he has, and if what I hear is true you do, its only going to prolong your life, not make you almost immortal like him," Drachen spun away from John, enraged at his needling and the fact that he seemed to know so much more about her then she knew about herself. The Mansion's gossip-line no doubt. She turned back and snapped at him

"Don't you think I know that? You think that thought has never crossed my mind?" She bit out "But you know what? It's not the length of life you have, but the quality of life you live. I could die tomorrow. I choose to have happiness now," she could see that her words were not registering with John. Like a lot of people she'd met, he ignored what he didn't like to hear. This worked fine if you were six, but not so much when you were sixteen.

They were seated cross-legged by the lake, and the silence after her declaration seemed to encourage him to move closer. Drachen stared out over the lake and tried vainly to master her temper, she could feel herself flushing with rage as the skin on her hands tightened

"You should be with someone your own age. Someone who can age with you. Someone that's like you. I could make you happy," John whispered, reaching for her hand

"You?" she turned to find that John was much closer then he was earlier, before she could utter another word of protest he pressed his lips to hers, pushing his tongue into her mouth. Drachen tried to push him away, but he had wrapped his arms around her, trapping her own arms against her chest. Fear and rage battled inside Drachen for control of her mind.

Rage won.

Drachen reached for her power and elated when it came at her call. With a growl she blasted her power through her skin, turning herself into a human torch. John let go of her with a cry, the heat causing him to stumble backwards into the freezing lake. He stood there stupidly, his mouth hanging open as Drachen drew the flames running rampant over her body to hang above her hands

"Stupid am I?" she shrieked at the stunned boy "Foolish? Not able to choose my own partner or my own life!" she took a step towards the lake as John took a further step backwards, the freezing water now up to his waist and making him shiver as it soaked through his jeans.

"You know he'll never love you like her," He called out, his ability to speak restored, though obviously not to think, "He'll always love Ms Gray more!" John taunted, though his voice was an octave higher then usual. He began searching his pockets for his lighter. With a wordless cry Drachen pointed at the lake and John, regaining some control of his mind if not his tongue, dived beneath the surface. He watched, waterlogged and wide-eyed as the flames briefly colored the surface of the water above him before retreating back to the unseen shore. Gasping he pushed his head above water, looking to the shore he saw that Drachen still stood there, arms raised

"Are you crazy!" he exclaimed "You could have killed me you psycho bitch!" Kicking backwards John attempted to make his way around to the shore, though his clothes were dragging mercilessly at his thin frame

"Crazy?" Drachen asked quietly "Crazy? But I thought you were the only one for me John?" she said in a dangerous voice "I thought only you could make me happy?" Drachen took another step towards the lake as John felt the sand bank under his foot. His franticly searching hand finally came upon his lighter as his other foot found land. Rising he struck, but the waterlogged lighter would not spark. Seeing Drachen take another step closer he reached out wildly and pushed his mutation across the space that separated them, trying to turn Drachen's fire against her. He turned and sprinted as his mutation hit, and Drachen was suddenly surrounded by a burning cloud of fire, her ringing laughter lapping at his heels as he ran towards the safety of the Mansion.

John ignored the startled looks his friends cast him as he ran through their afternoon study group, the only thought in his mind escape from Drachen's fiery anger. He paused by the kitchen door and leaned against the frame, gasping. Looking around frantically his eyes searched for the crazy redhead who seemed to want to kill him. He was so busy looking behind him that he failed to see the door frame fill with a large muscular body. The first he knew of the warm body in front of him was the smell of cigar smoke and a tingling sensation as all the hairs on the back of his neck rose. John slowly turned back towards the door, and opened his mouth to speak. Whatever he had planned to say came out as a squeak as he was dragged into the Mansion by his shirtfront. His feet scrambled wildly on the kitchen floor as he tried to find some purchase to leverage his body free of the meaty fist that held him captive. Logan dragged John into the hall, away from the kitchen and its wide-eyed spectators, not that he cared if there was an audience for what he was about to say. With a growl Logan swung John into the finely paneled wall, he released his grip on his shirtfront, but repositioned it around his throat before the pale boy could slide down the wall. Snarling Logan punched a fist into the wall beside John's head and demanded

"What did you do!" John's heels drummed frantically against the paneling as his toes rose off the floor

"I don't, I don't know what you're talking about," he gasped, eyes wide

"Don't lie to me Matchstick," Logan smiled around his cigar as John tried to land a kick around the region of his knee. Logan could feel people gathering at the far end of the hall, hesitant to come closer, but too enthralled to leave.

"You're crazy!" John's voice was high with both pain and fear, "Both of you! You're both fricken crazy!" he gasped past Logan's iron like fingers. A ball of flame appeared in John's hand, sparked by Logan's cigar, but he thought better of the idea when an adamantium claw slid forth to rest just below his Adams apple, delicately pricking his skin.

"So," Logan asked, falsely calm "You been messin' with my girl?" he growled menacingly, his temper rising with each whiff of Drachen's scent that rolled off John. She wasn't the sort of girl to mess around, he'd had plenty of experience with women like that, and Drachen wasn't one of them. Which mean that Matchstick was the one who'd been doing the messing. If he'd actually laid a finger on her… Logan's fingers began to tighten…

"What!" Pyro squeaked "No! I-" his protest was cut off by the sudden narrowing of his windpipe. Logan was almost shaking he was so angry. No one touched what was his. No one. And Drachen was most definitely his.

"We were just-" John let out a strangled gasp, trying vainly to force the words out of his compressed windpipe, "Training!"

"Yeah?" Logan asked, "Then why do you smell like _her_ and_ fear_?" he said, voice like silk covered steel. Logan watched at the little Matchstick's eyes shot around his head as he tried to think of a convincing lie. He moved his face closer to the terrified boy

"You touch her again," he growled menacingly, "And I'll gut you like a fish," Logan dropped the kid to the floor and turned, only to find one pissed off Jean standing behind him. One of the little pipsqueaks must have run for her when he'd made his intentions on the Matchstick plain.

"What the hell do you think you were doing Logan?" she demanded, and Logan could feel the slight push of her powers on his skin. He squared his shoulders getting ready for a fight

"Kid had it coming Red," Logan said darkly with an unconcerned shrug. Logan watched as Jeans eyebrows shot towards her hairline

"What? How can you even say that? He's just a child." she said, scandalized.

"You wanna be a big man and fuck with someone else's' girl, then you get taken down like a man who's fucking with someone else's girl," Logan growled, turning to leave. He didn't have time for this shit, and he needed to find Drachen.

"She's not a toy Logan, and that child is not 'your girl'," Jean said witheringly. Jean told herself that saying this wasn't bigoted. She was only looking out for Drachen's best interests. After all, someone had too as it seemed the girl had no sense of self-preservation. Logan turned back towards the red headed woman, an angry retort on his lips. Before he could voice his rage a cold voice cut through their conversation

"Says who?"

Jean turned around in shock to see an enragingly calm Drachen standing behind her. She took a step backwards and marginally closer to Logan when she noticed the way Drachen's curls were winding about her head in a nimbus of flame

"You?" Drachen said with a frigid laugh "What? You led him on, fucked with his heart, and now that I've got him you think you might want him back?" she took a threatening step closer to the pair and raised her fist, which burst into flames. Jean's eyes went wide at Drachen's sudden control of her mutation and she felt a chill go through her at the little orange flames she thought she saw dancing in Drachen's eyes.

"Fightcha for him?" Drachen said in the same chillingly calm voice. Logan could see this getting messy, so he stepped in front of Jean with his arms raised,

"Now Darlin' I don't quite think that this is the best idea-" Logan gulped as Drachen's flaming eyes met his

"But, ah," he began nervously, stepping back from in front of Jean as he reconsidered his position and that fact that he might not get to having sex with his girl _ever_ if he didn't get out of the way "You just do what you thinks' best,"

"What!" Jean gasped, franticly looking between Logan and his flaming girlfriend "Logan you can't just let her-," she started to say before Logan snarled at her

"Way I see it Jean, you started it. Ever since we got here you've been sniping and bitching and sticking your nose were it don't belong. You've had this coming for a while," he looked back at Drachen, who was still standing calmly in the hallway

"I'm sure she won't hurt you too much," he offered, taking a further step backwards and leaning against the wall. Drachen took a menacing step towards Jean as the read headed doctor raised her hands.

_That is quite enough!_ The thought, accompanied by a wave of power, was enough to make everyone in the room wince. Logan pressed the heel of his hand into his temple as Drachen's flames spluttered out and she fought not to gag at the sudden pressure inside her skull.

_Jean,_ the thought for her and her alone whispered in her mind, _Come to my office. Now._

Logan's eyes tracked Jean's abrupt departure as he walked over to Drachen, who was still clutching her head. He drew her into his arms, trying to lend her his strength, and shelter her from the fearful looks of the students

"You know I love you," he said softly into her hair "But sometimes Darlin' you are damn scary," Drachen settled deeper into Logan's embrace and whispered quietly so only Logan could hear

"No one fucks with what's mine. Ever."

Jean seated herself silently on the chair across form the Professor's desk. Flushing at her involvement in the scene downstairs she kept her eyes firmly in her lap.

"Look at me Jean," The Professor demanded "I am disappointed in you. I specifically told you to keep your opinions about Logan's relationship to yourself," Jean could feel tears of shame gathering in eyes. Not only did she hear how disappointed her mentor was, but she could feel it too.

"I'm sorry," she said in a whisper, raising her eyes. The Professor's stern visage greeted her across the desk.

"Put it from you mind," The Professor responded, "We have more pressing concerns then your unfounded jealousy," Jean opened her mouth to argue, but coloured as the Professor raised an eyebrow

"I've received some very concerning information regarding the New Brotherhood," he said in an ominous tone "It seems they're planning an attack,"

"Where," Jean asked concerned.

"Here." The Professor said quietly. "They are planning to attack the Mansion."


	18. Chapter Eighteen

Disclaimer: I don't own the recognizable characters or places mentioned in this obvious work of fiction.

Enjoy and leave feedback if you are so inclined.

Yay! An update! Sorry it's been so long, just trying to get through a few things. I will be finishing this story for those of you who fear a relapse into depression and apathy. I'm sorry this chapter is so short. Thank you all for sticking with me. Please hit the review button down the bottom to tell me what you think.

* * *

"I have called you all to this meeting to discuss some concerning news about the New Brotherhood." The Professor announced gravely. The team shifted nervously, all except for Logan who had his feet up at the back of the room and was wondering if this meeting would clear up in time for the last of breakfast.

"Yesterday I received some information from an operative we have placed with the New Brotherhood," he looked out at his assembled team solemnly "They are rising." The news fell like a dead weight amongst the assembly. Logan tried to suppress a growl. Its not like the news was unexpected. Even him, as dumb as Scooter thought he was, could tell that all the little nibbles those assholes had been taking out of them, all those attacks and unexplained 'gas leaks' had been leading up to this. And they were all acting like this news was some big shock. Useless geeks.

"How can you be sure Professor? With Magneto still in prison it seemed as if the attacks were diminishing." That was Ororo, always the one for second-guessing.

"The information I've received is solid. They are planning a mass uprising. What we initial too for retreat was simply a dedicated plan to withdraw their forces and regroup. It seems they have a new weapon." The Professor said gravely, shifting in the seat of his wheelchair

"A new weapon?" That was One-Eye, his pre-pubescent voice high with alarm. Dick "Like a machine?"

Logan suppressed a sudden sick felling as his mind skittered back to the last machine the Brotherhood had attempted to inflict upon the world. The sound of Rogue's burned flesh tearing free of the metal had haunted him for months; the smell still haunted his nightmares. Mocking him and his failure to save her from that torture. He shifted uncomfortably, crossing his arms across his chest.

"More like a very powerful mutant," the Professor made a small gesture and Jean rose from her seat at his side and began handing out the mission briefs.

"The informant seems to think that there will have gathered enough followers to rise by the end of the month, with the attack occurring around Christmas Eve." Ororo's shocked gasp was loud in the silence

"But, everyone will be home for the holidays. All those families!"

"Exactly. Unlike Liberty Island the New Brotherhood are focusing on civilians this time. Ordinary Americans. My Informant thinks this new mutant might be an Activator, their mutation being somewhat similar to the machine Magneto was attempting to perfect. However instead of forcing the change and turning the subject into an unstable matrix, this mutant simply activates the subjects repressed mutant genes." It seems that not even Red had been apprised of this fact, as she turned and looked at the Professor with startled eyes

"But that's appalling Professor. The stress that would place on the body would be beyond dangerous. And what about those humans who don't have recessive mutant genes?"

"Simply put my dear, they will die." All eyes were glued to the Professor, who seems to be choosing his next words with care.

"I think a quick decisive pre-strike is key to disrupting these plans. As much as it pains me to use such force on our enemies without apparent provocation, I fear they have left as with little choice."

"Hey Drake," Drachen looked up as the pretty brunette made her way to where she was sitting under one of the many trees dotting the Mansion's grounds. Her lessons with Py-Prick had ceased, not surprisingly after her little display. Drachen felt slightly ashamed at her loss of control, but it had gotten her point across. To everyone. There had been a noticeable absence of a certain redhead in her immediate vicinity since her very visible show of temper.

"Hey," Drachen answered with a soft smile, moving over slightly as Marie came to sit with her.

"Are you okay?" Marie asked as she settle down next to her and took out two pieces of rather crushed cake from her satchel bag

"Me? Of course, why wouldn't I be?" Drachen said, slightly confused

"Well, with everyone closed away like that, it always means there's a mission coming up." Drachen felt her stomach clench in apprehension as her friend looked out over the grounds.

"Oh?" Drachen asked, raising a brow and attempting to be nonchalant

"Well, I always used to worry so much, before I got Bobby. He's so safe. But before that – I used to worry for them. When Logan used to go away on missions and each one could be his last…" Drachen watched as Marie's cheeks colored prettily "Ahm so glad I have Bobby now. I think I'd jut die if anything happened to him. My heart would just break." She said somewhat dramatically, her Sothern accent getting stronger with her distress.

"Well, I doubt that's going to happen any time soon," Drachen said comfortingly, as Maria gave a somewhat self depreciating laugh

"Ah know ahm just being silly. I always get like this before they leave. I don't worry any less for them, but at least now I have something else to focus on,"

"I'm sure you're worrying for nothing," Drachen said comfortingly and offering a small laugh in the hopes of covering up how uneasy Marie's words had made her. It hadn't really occurred to her that being part of the X-Men could be dangerous. Oh Logan had told her that he had gone on a few missions, raised some hell. But until now Drachen hadn't actually thought about him being injured. Dying. And all for a cause that she wasn't part of, at least not fully.

"Ahm sorry Drake, I shouldn't be saying these things, especially when its Logan in there." Drachen patted Marie's hand comfortingly

"Marie, you shouldn't worry so much. Logan can take care of himself. Would you want to face him across a battlefield? Honestly, this is Logan we're talking about. I'm not worried at all."

_Not at all_ she thought to herself _Not at all._

Later that night Drachen lay alone in bed, but despite the exhaustion of her body, sleep still eluded her. She thought back on her conversation with Marie, her friend's words echoing in her mind. As her eyes tracked the moon in its flight across the sky she felt a silent tear run down her cheek.

_I'd just die if anything happened to him… my heart would just break_

"I'd just die," she whispered to the darkness, her breath catching in her chest, the thought of an echoingly empty future stretching ahead of her.

"I'd just die…"


	19. Chapter nineteen

Disclaimer: I don't own the recognizable characters or places mentioned in this obvious work of fiction.

Shocked you all and updated! I'm going to have this finished by Christmas. I'm determined too. Thanks for hanging in there loyal fans that I totally don't deserve.

Enjoy and leave feedback if you are so inclined. It may be and idea to have a quick scan of Chapters 16 – 18 as they've had a few tweaks and may have gained some weight .

* * *

The mission had gone south pretty much as soon as they'd entered the compound – a ramshackle collection of farm buildings well past the city limits. It was supposed to be a surprise attack on a sleeping enemy. First of all they weren't asleep, and secondly they were mostly definitely not surprised. The New Brotherhood was awake, aware and very well armed. Magneto might have been bound up in his plastic prison, but Mystique had recruited another mental manipulator to their cause and Wolverine, originally their greatest fighting asset, had been reduced to a screaming wreck as the skinny little punk had superheated the metal coating his bones. Storm had been taken out by a roundhouse kick to the head from a creature whose number of legs was superseded only by the number of eyes on its head. It has been all Scott could do to get his team back to the Mansion alive. Storm didn't have any form of healing ability, unlike Logan. She wouldn't last long without medical attention, whereas Logan was damn near immortal. He could survive anything they threw at him. That was how Scott justified it as he gave the order to retreat. Justifying himself to Drachen was going to be much more difficult.

...

"You left him?" She said calmly, her mind trying the process the words being spoken. Scott watched apprehensively as her curls began to move "You just left him there. To die?" Scott reached out towards her but Drachen was having not of it. Pulling her arm clear she stalked towards the window, her whole body shaking. This couldn't be happening. He'd promised her. Promised that he'd come back. He promised. Logan had said he loved her. That he'd never leave her. Drachen was having trouble processing what she'd been told. Gone. He was gone. Just like that. Gone. And now she was alone.

_I'd just die…_

"It wasn't like that Drachen-" Scott tried vainly to justify his actions. How did you try and explain acceptable losses to the partner of someone who didn't come back?

"Then what was it like? Explain it to me because I'm just not getting how you could leave one of your team mates - one of your own, behind." She turned back towards the older man, clearly waiting for a response.

"I made a decision to tactically withdraw our forces on a temporary basis. And I stand by that. That does not mean we will be leaving Logan behind – we're heading back at first light with greater numbers," Drachen turned and walked back towards the window. Silent she looked out on the grounds slowly coming into focus with dawn's first light. It was all grey to her though. Everything was grey – it had been since Scott had first pulled her from her bed and requested her presence in the small downstairs library. He had come to her before even the Professor. He wanted to be the one to tell her he'd said at the start of the conversation. Turning back towards him Drachen said coldly

"Dawn's here. Shouldn't you be getting ready?" That said she gathered her robe tighter around her body and left the room. Retreating to her own window, the one across from their bed, Drachen sat and watched, still silent, as the hours bled by.

...

Drachen remembered that they were crying when they brought him in. He was so still and for such a big man he had looked small on the stretcher. They had laid him in the infirmary and she tried to convince herself he was sleeping. Tried to pretend, just like they had on the road. Pretending that she was annoyed, and he was not interested. That she was impervious to his smile, and that his eyes didn't follow her every move. Pretending that they didn't love each other so god damn much.

Her tears left scalding tracts on her face as the greyness that had surrounded her for more then a day swirled closer. Inwards. With every sobbing breath she took, more and more of the freezing grey entered her body, wrapping tight around her broken heart. Instead of steadying her in her pain, the strength of its coils was pulling the broken shards of her heart further apart. She didn't hear their words of condolence. Didn't feel their comforting embraces. She felt broken. Cold. So cold. The world around her was getting darker. And she was… Broken.

Blink. She was surrounded by her friends, and deafened by their condolences.

Blink. She was at the memorial, drowning in a sea of other people's tears.

Blink. Jean was walking away from her, scalded by her silence after having said something profound.

Blink. She watched as they lowered what had once been Logan into the ground.

Blink. Blink. Blink. Every time she closed her eyes it felt like her heart broke a little more and reality was moving further away.

Drachen could feel the shards of ice inside her chest cutting into her soul. Each time she drew breath waves of pain shook her body. And she was cold. So cold. No matter what she did it was always there, a constant chill that wouldn't let her go. Marie had finally left her; though she had said to call if Drachen had needed anything. All Drachen needed was the only thing she couldn't have. Logan. Here. Safe. With her.

_I would just die…_

_...  
_

"Professor I'm worried," Jean said, sinking into the couch. She felt like she'd been crying for days. They all had, except Drachen. Jean hadn't seen her cry since the day they'd brought Logan home. Jean had watched two tears slip down her face before she'd locked her grief away.

"So are we all my dear. Even more so now that she's blocked me from her mind," Professor Xavier said gravely, concern evident in his voice and on his face

"What?" Jean exclaimed, shocked at the implications of the Professor's words "How is that even possible?"

"I do not know. Her grief is almost overwhelming. The empaths have come to me and asked to be shielded until this passes…" he trailed off, wondering what would happen to the poor child if it didn't, and even worse perhaps, if it did

"She wears it like a shield, and her powers are… fluctuating with her emotional state. The worst part is that she doesn't even seem notice. This morning was the third window we've lost in as many days." Jean turned her worried eyes to the Professor, who came around from behind his desk.

"One by one she has locked each of us out, but she is not completely gone. We must do everything in out power to get her back. We must break the hold that this grief has on her heart. It's what Logan would have wanted."

"I miss him so much." Jean said, breaking down.

"We all do." Professor Xavier said, rolling closer and reaching out to comfort his favorite protégé.

"But we can honor his memory, not with tears, but with saving the life of the woman he loved." Jean looked up and there was despair in her eyes along with tears

"But how? I feel like every day we lose her a little more," Once Jean had thought that losing Drachen wouldn't have been such a bad thing, but now, watching her fade before her eyes, she no longer thought so.

"You're right. She's going down a dark path. We might not be able to bring her back from that, no matter what we do." The old man said tiredly

"But we need to try," Jean said firmly. Professor Xavier beamed at the woman sitting in front of him. She was learning and he was very proud.

"You need to break through to her," He saw her confusion and continued "It must be you Jean. Only strong emotion can reach her now. We must get her to react, to laugh, to cry, to become enraged. Anything to get through to her and break her out of this shell she has surrounded herself in."

"But Professor!" Jean exclaimed, suddenly worried. She remembered vividly that last time Drachen had turned her emotions on her…

"I'll be there with you – every step of the way. I will protect you Jean."

...

Drachen was sitting in the Memorial Garden when Jean found here. She had seated herself in front of Logan's headstone and was simply staring, unblinking, at the reflection of her face in the freshly polished stone.

"Drachen? Honey, do you mind if I talk to you for a bit?" Drachen turned burning eyes on the figure before her

"Do what you like," She answered dully, uninterested in the conversation or anything that Jean could want to say to her. Jean took a deep breath

"Drachen, this is getting ridiculous. You have to stop." Jean reached for Drachen's shoulder, before thinking better of it and dropping her hand to her side. The Professor had said that he would protect her… but there was not need to test that promise so early in the conversation.

"I don't know what you mean," Drachen said, turning back to face the stone.

"This!" Jean said, trying to recapture the girl's failing attention "This is what I mean!" She said angrily, gesturing towards Drachen's slumped form "You're moping around the Mansion like you're the only person who's ever lost someone. You're not. And you're not the only person that loved him," she said harshly.

The words struck Drachen harder then any blow. Love! How dare this woman speak of love? Rage burned along skin as she rose to her feet

"You never loved him," She screamed, heedless of the surrounds. Blindly she struck out with her body and her powers. Drachen's hand caught Jean a ringing slap to her face that knocked her backwards while her powers burst out from her skin and began to gather above her head. Jean had sprawled backwards her ears ringing, but the Professor's reassurances whispered inside her mind, and she could feel his power creating a shield between her body and Drachen's emotional torrent.

Shaking in pain and rage Drachen took a step forward… and stopped. The fiery maelstrom above her head shivered as Drachen looked down at the cowering woman. A brief flash of – something- flashed across her face. The emotion was gone to quickly for Jean to tell. Silently Drachen turned, the gathered flames guttering as she absorbed her powers back into her body. Shaking she began to walk towards the lake. With each step she took away from the Mansion Drachen's heart broke a little more. She didn't realize she was crying until she was standing by the lakeshore, and trying to understand why her vision had suddenly lost its clarity. Blinking rapidly Drachen sank to her knees and wrapped her arms around herself, trying in vain to hold together the pieces of her heart. The pain was rearing in her chest. Screaming in her head. Silently, the air around her shimmering with heat, Drachen began to rock.

...

Footsteps brought her back from her stupor, and the scent of cigar smoke snapped Drachen's head around so fast it was surprising she didn't have whiplash.

She looked up into the figure's face in shock. It was Logan - whole and unmarred and gloriously alive. He'd come back for her. He was alive and he'd come back to her!

"Logan," She croaked scrambling to her feet. He held out his hand to her and Drachen reached out in response, but she shivered slightly when his hand closed around hers. If he was here, the things were better. Things were going to be okay. But they weren't. Her heart was still screaming, its pain spreading through her chest, the grey still surrounded her; the world was still dull and lifeless in her eyes.

Something was wrong.

Something was very wrong.

But he was pulling her now and she was stumbling along behind him. No one had ever told her that grief felt so much like fear. But what did she have to be afraid of? It wasn't like she had anything left to lose.


	20. Chapter twenty

Disclaimer: I don't own the recognizable characters or places mentioned in this obvious work of fiction.

Struggling but not forgotten! Only 5 chapters to go (of thereabouts) and the last chapter and the next chapter have already been written.

I'm trying to show Drachen's decent into madness as clearly as I can. I'd appreciate some feedback on how successful I've been.

Reviews, as always, are very much appreciated. They also point out to me what you guys like and don't like.

* * *

Drachen found herself standing at the window of the mansion with no idea how she had gotten there. Looking out at the frosted grounds, overgrown with weeds and briars she was… confused. Logan had brought her here… wherever here was. He had held her in his arms and whispered in her ear… something. She couldn't remember. There was a wall of ice between her body and the world, and between her thoughts and her mind. It was getting harder and harder to think as the cold spread through her body… the setting moon through silvered shadows over the overgrown shrubbery painting what was dirty by day to something magical by moonlight. So pretty…

Drachen tried vainly to reign in her wandering attention. Logan. Logan was here. She could _feel_ him – until she couldn't. He was in her mind, that foul broken thing in her chest tried to pump when she thought him near, but just when she thought she could touch him, when the warmth was within reach, he guttered like a windblown candle flame, and he was gone. And she was alone…

It would snow soon. Logan had told her during a warm night that seemed a lifetime ago. He had promised to take her to Canada – to see real snow. It had been warm where she lived, and Christmas was celebrated with tinsel and palm trees. This was going to be her first white Christmas, their first Christmas together. It would snow soon, but something wasn't right. She was alone. All alone in this mansion of falling stone. She had been in another mansion once and she had been happy there. They had been happy their, she remembered that. Where ever _there_ was. A misty picture rose before her eyes, warm stone, manicured laws, warmth and laughter. Love. A pebbled drive and grey stone gates… grey… Greymalkin Lane? Was that where it was? Or was she just dreaming again? With a sign Drachen moved away from the window and made her way over to her bed, little more then mildewed mattress and a headboard pushed up against the far wall of the room. Logan had called her a princess, his princess. He had brought her to this tower to keep her safe he said. Safe while he hunted for those who would hurt her… at least that's what he said. Letting her nightgown slip from her shoulders Drachen stepped out of it and slid between the ancient sheets.

Turning back towards the window Drachen shivered under the thin fabric. As she watched the moon sink towards the windowsill Drachen, for all her foggy thoughts, couldn't shake the idea that she'd forgotten something, lost something, something was missing… something… she couldn't quite remember, but she remembered that it had made her feel warm. Every time she thought she had it, the memory slipped away… like smoke… like fog. Drachen shivered as the sheets she clasped to her chest began to crisp and brown, her eyes locked on the open widow. God she was cold. So, so cold…

….

Logan launched himself from the floor with a roar, coming up just short of the bars of his prison. Harsh laughter was the only response from his captor, who stood in the shadows outside the cage.

"Tisk, tisk, tisk. You can tug all you like but you won't break free of those chains."

"What mutation is this!" Logan demanded, incensed

"No mutation, just science – the chains are adamantium, the bars, the floor... there is no escape." Logan's eyes took in the shadowed room, the tiny window, the stained walls and floor. It looked like a basement, and not one that had originally held a cage. His prison was a more recent addition.

"Who are you!" Logan growled

"Why do you want me to be?" Jean whispered, stepping into the light "I can be whoever you need," Marie whispered

"Mystique," Logan spat, bile rising in his throat

"I love the way you say my name," the blue skinned shape-shifter smirked, her hand caressing the three parallel scars marring her torso, "You were the only man to ever mark me…"

"Let me free and I'll do more then mark you."

"Promises, promises," Mystique whispered, stepping back into the darkness. Logan let out a roar as her footsteps echoed into the night. Pulling against the chains that bound him was useless, but that didn't stop Logan twisting and tugging until his wrists were slick with blood. Exhausted he dropped to his knees. Logan's eyes were drawn to the tiny window in the far wall of the room, he watched in despair as the moon dropped towards the far trees, signaling another dawn in captivity.

…..

"Do not stand at my grave and weep.  
I am not there. I do not sleep."

Drachen looked up at the sound of the whisper soft voice. In her doorway stood a small girl, pale eyed and pale haired she looked like a child ghost. Her form wavered in the waves of cold radiating form Drachen's skin

"Are you real?" Drachen asked in a tiny voice, wondering if finally she had lost her mind. The child ignored her

"I am a thousand winds that blow.  
I am the diamond glints on snow.  
I am the sunlight on ripened grain.  
I am the gentle autumn rain. "

"Who are you?" Drachen demanded, louder then before.

_Please let her be real… please… I feel like I'm loosing my mind…_

"When you awake in the morning's hush  
I am the soft uplifting rush of quiet birds in circling flight.  
I am the soft star that shines at night. "

Shakily Drachen stood, clutching her dressing gown to her chest and taking a step forward, and then another, suddenly angry at the apparition for taunting her with lies

"He's dead. I know it. I feel it in my heart, no matter what tricks my mind plays."

"He comes for you now. Trip, trip, up the stairs," whispered the ghost child

"Lies. Logan is dead. That is not Logan," Drachen whispered, tears running down her cheeks.

_That is not Logan._

Drachen turned over the words in her mind. _That is not Logan._They sounded right. What's more they sounded true. Drachen let out a strangled sob and sank to her knees as the ghostly child stepped closer to her

"Do not stand at my grave and cry  
I am not there. I did not die."

Suddenly the doorway was filled. "Drachen? Princess, why are you on the floor?" Drachen looked up at Logan, but he wasn't the real Logan, she knew that now. He was just a shade…

"Did you see her?" Drachen asked desperately.

_Please let it have seen her…_

"See who?" The Shade asked.

"The girl. In the doorway." Drachen watched as the Shade made a show of looking around before it turned back to her

"There's nothing there Princess."

"No. I guess not. Maybe I dreamed it." Rising Drachen held out her hand as the Shade helped her to her feet. Drachen shivered in pleasure. So warm. The Shade was so warm. Leaning forward Drachen took a deep breath and tried to absorb the heat of the creature into her skin, ignoring it's flinching. It was so warm… and she was still so cold.

...

"You know she's been very useful to us…" Mystique taunted from the shadows of the basement

"Shut up." Logan growled

"But she has. She's provided us with names, dates, lists…"

"The Mutant Registration Act," Logan whispered, the reason for his capture and Drachen's subversion solidifying in his mind

"Yes. So fortunate that she remembered where the backup copy was stored… with prompting."

"I will kill you. And it will not be quick," Logan promised, face twisted in rage and muscle bunching as they strained against his bonds. Mystique smiled and Logan found himself looking into his own eyes.

"Right bub. You just worry about getting out of that cage."


	21. Chapter twenty one

Disclaimer: I don't own the recognizable characters or places mentioned in this obvious work of fiction.

As promised! I'd love to hear your thoughts on where I'm taking this.

* * *

Marie opened the balcony door slowly, blinking rapidly in the sudden darkness. She was sure she'd heard something out in the darkness…

"Hello?" she called, wondering if what she'd heard had been real, or just a figment of her exhausted mind. It was probably nothing. She was jumping at shadows nowadays "Hello?" Slowly her eyes adjusted to the darkness and she was able to pick out the black clad figure seated at the end of the small balcony. Marie squinted into the darkness; sure her eyes were playing tricks on her

"D-Drachen?" Marie asked with a stutter, her voice high with disbelief and a little fear. The figure looked up at the sound of her voice. Her face was in shadow and her scarlet curls stained black with the night. "Is that really you?" Marie asked softly, hesitantly. She stepped out on to the balcony and quietly closed the door behind her, checking over her shoulder to see if anyone had noticed her exit. Mr Summers and Ms Grey would be furious… they had sent out searches, not even the Professor using Cerebro had found any trace of her… But no, they were all too caught up in the Christmas celebration that had overtaken the Mansion. The students that were leaving for the holidays were celebrating with those who were staying prior to their departure in the morning. Marie turned back towards Drachen and immediately started shivering. The winter wind raising goose flesh on her arms. It was so cold! Each year she swore was the coldest yet and despite her years away from home Marie couldn't get used to cold Decembers.

"We've all been so worried! Are you okay?" Marie asked, teeth clenched to keep them from chattering. Her heart jumped with joy to think her friend was back with them. She'd been so lonely, especially since Logan- Marie cut that thought abruptly short. Drachen didn't need her tears. Not now.

"I'm so cold," Drachen whispered, lips wreathed in frost fire, and voice sounding like the winter wind "So very cold." She grimaced, head tilting and face twisting with pain "There's a hole in my chest where my heart used to beat. My light. My fire." The dark-clad figure stood slowly "I gave it away. And now I'm empty. So empty. So cold." Drachen trailed off, eyes lost in the darkness, watching visions only she could see. "I've lost something… something important… if only I could remember what it was…"

Marie took a step backwards, chilled by the despair that was pouring from her one time friend. Looking down she noticed that the snow cover on the balcony was starting to melt around Drachen's feet. And not just melt; the puddles were starting to steam. Marie began to feel slightly afraid. Maybe coming out here alone hadn't been the best idea. Marie wondered suddenly where Bobby was, and she couldn't help wishing that he might choose this moment to come and find her. Her eyes snapped back to Drachen's face as she began to speak once more.

"I gave him everything. And now there's nothing left. The hole is getting bigger; with every breath I lose a bit more of myself to the darkness. It's eating me alive. And its so cold," Drachen took another step forward, towards the light, towards Marie. Marie stepped back in fear, she didn't know what was happening, but she knew that this wasn't her friend. Not now, not anymore "Soon there will be nothing left. Nothing but the darkness, and the cold." Marie felt a chill as Drachen took another step towards her. Her friend's skin was porcelain white and lit from within, her lips translucent. But her eyes… her eyes were burning. Marie could feel the hairs on the back of her neck rise as she looked into the dancing flames. She felt sweat break out all over her body as the heat coming off Drachen's body assailed her

"Drake, please. You're scaring me," she begged, wringing her hands. She had backed up to the stone railing bordering the balcony.

There was nowhere else to run too.

Marie shot a look towards the closed door to her left, contemplating her chances of escaping her friend, or whatever is was that now wore her friend's face.

"I just want to be warm again," Drachen said in a broken whisper "The cold is killing me," Marie gasped as Drachen took another step closer. The icicles decorating the railing around them were starting to melt.

"I'm sorry," Marie whispered feeling an echoing ache in her own heart. Logan's loss had hit her hard as well. He had been her friend, her rescuer, and sometimes a substitute for what her father could never give her; advice and love.

"I'm sorry that he left you. That he left us. But that doesn't mean we have to lose you too. Come back. Please," she swallowed, throat dry "Why don't you come inside? Come inside where it's warm. Come home." Marie gestured to her left towards the door, moving closer towards the light spilling from the party inside, closer towards safety. The faint sound of music was spilling out onto the balcony.

"I can never go home," Drachen said hollowly. A sudden sound from inside the Mansion startled Marie and made her jump. Taking her eyes from the haunted figure in front of her she looked inside for the source of the noise, praying it was a rescue and feeling a flash of guilt for thinking she needed one. Her eyes shot back to where the creature that was no longer her friend had been standing. Drachen was gone.

...

Drachen felt her heartbeat slow as she entered the grounds of the house where the New Brotherhood were marshaling for their final assault. The little army they had created was going well, or so _it_ said. Their numbers had swelled and by now most, if not all of the rooms in the house were full. It was a house the same way that the Mansion was a school. Rooms upon rooms set on sprawling grounds. But unlike Xavier's School the house's former grandeur had been brought low and in some of her clearer moments Drachen saw this. The wallpaper was peeling, the grounds were rough and over grown, and the rooms stank of rising damp. And it was cold. So cold. No matter how close she stood to the ancient fireplaces, or how many coats she piled on she was still freezing. Still cold. It radiated from her. Starting in her chest where her heart used to be and burning its way outward towards her fingers and her toes.

The attack would come tomorrow, just as the sun kissed the horizon and evening fell. Their weapon, hard won, would change the tide of battle with her ability to manipulate genes, giving the Brotherhood the advantage. An advantage they planned to use to wipe the X-Men from the face of existence. Then they planned to turn their might on the humans. The Mutant Registration Act was only the first of the planned injustices that the humans were attempting to persecute them with. It was their rallying point, not to mention a recruiting list of the damaged and demented, and Drachen had given it to them gladly, once he had explained to her the need. She would follow Logan anywhere, anywhere he asked her to go. Even into death, for death was where he had gone… It wouldn't be long now. Mere hours and they would be together in Morte. United in death, as they had never been in life.

Drachen wondered idly if it would be warm there. The place you went when you died. Anything would be better then this. Even nothing. Anything to end the burning cold that was slowly consuming her; one broken heart beat at a time.

Pushing open the door of the study Drachen didn't bother to announce her presence to those within. She turned towards the Shade of her love, sitting behind the battered mahogany desk. She would have laughed, in another time, not so long ago, at the image of her burly cage fighter holding a pen and making carefully precise notes in a leather-bound ledger. War plans for the coming battle. Plans of death and slaughter. Plans of victory and triumph. Plans she would not see to fruition. She crossed the room and dropped a perfunctory kiss on its whiskered cheek, watching as it flinched away from the chill of her flesh. She was so cold. So cold. Why would it not share some of its warmth with her? It had barely touched her since the day it had brought her here, though they slept close at night now. The Shade liked to keep her close. To watch her. To keep her calm. To control her.

"Come to bed… Precious," Drachen invited through cold-chilled lips, dropping her coat and offering a chilly, yet sultry smile. A look of surprise passed over the Shade's face, but it was quickly covered. Drachen almost smiled as it caught her meaning clearly. A lustful smile bloomed on its face and it rose

"Well hot damn sweetheart! I thought you'd never ask," the figure made its way towards her and for a second, just a second, Drachen allowed herself the luxury of a smile as she sank into its embrace. It felt so good. So good to just be held. If only she wasn't so cold. It made her bones ache. Made it difficult to sleep – the never ending burning, the constant chill... Drachen took a deep breath, and the space where her heart had once been cracked a little more, shards of her chest falling into the sucking abyss. She leaned in closer in an effort to prevent herself from flinching backwards from the pain.

Because there were two things she couldn't copy.

And one of them was scent.

...

Hours later two bodies lay entwined in tangled, sweat soaked sheets. The Shade of Logan lay next to her, snoring softly in the darkness. It slept deeply, well satisfied by their encounter, having taken something that she had kept safe for Logan. But he was gone now. And soon, she would be too. Drachen's limbs were sprawled carelessly, her breathing slow and even. But her eyes… her eyes were open and staring, and they burned blue in the darkness.


	22. Chapter twenty two

Disclaimer: I don't own the recognizable characters or places mentioned in this obvious work of fiction.

We're on the home stretch now folks! Only a few chapters to go, and the last chapter's already written.

I really appreciate all the newly vocal reviewers. I love to hear your opinions and thoughts, so please keep them coming.

* * *

"You should see your X-Men, running around like ants trying to find your precious princess. Entirely unsuccessful thanks to that fool you call Professor. Why you still believe in him I've no idea. He's been no help returning your 'forgotten' memories, and no help in finding the girl."

"What have you done with Drachen!" Logan demanded, surging to his feet

"Me? Nothing… yet. What she's done to herself is another matter. Did you know that Cerebro has a flaw?" Mystique asked in a lightning fast change of topic. "Eric told me, before you took him away. It does fine at finding mutants themselves when recognisable by your Professor, but if a mutant should become unrecognisable … ill, unconscious, mad… then Cerebro is only good at identifying mutations… and how do you find a red fish in a pond full of red fish?"

"If you touch her-" Logan pulled against the chains with his right arm until he heard the sickening pop that signaled his shoulder had dislocated.

"Oh I'm doing a lot more then touch her," Mystique taunted, once again wearing Logan's face. Giving Logan his own trademark grin Mystique left the basement, the sound of her footsteps drowned out by Logan's furious roar.

Logan sank wearily to his knees for the hundredth time in as many days. This was all his fault. First Marie, then Jean, now Drachen. Why did everything he touch turn to shit? Everything he loved, every woman important to him… why? Why could he just be happy, we couldn't the universe leave him be? What god had he pissed off? In despair Logan tipped back his hear and let out a desolate howl filled with pain.

...

"The belief in a supernatural source of evil or pain is not necessary. Men alone are quite capable of every wickedness." Logan looked up, seeing clearly in the darkness despite the fact that the security light Mystique turned on when she was tormenting him had been put out. In the darkness was a child. A little girl with skin like the moonlight and hair like snow.

"You shouldn't be down here." Logan said dully, temporally roused from his stupor by concern for the child's well being.

"Worry not Atlas, the Hydra only sees me when she wants to," the child replied, her voice confident despite her obvious youth

"My name is Logan," The bound man said, his tone defeated

"Your name is James Logan Howlett actually, but names are immaterial. Atlas is as Atlas does. You live with the burden of the universe on your shoulders. The guilt you carry is the weight of worlds."

"I've done so many things…" Logan said, his voice broken. So deep in despair that he didn't event comment on the fact that this child had given him something for which he had been striving for years.

His name.

"Self-pity is one of the most dangerous forms of self-centeredness. It fogs our vision." The child said, stepping up to the bars

"She has Drachen," Logan said, looking up from the pitted cement of the floor.

"You are so blind," chastised the seer.

"I love her! She's my mate!" Logan snarled, unconsciously shifting his stance and raising his head

"Yes. But you can do her no good down here, Prometheus."

"I thought I was Atlas." Logan asked, confused

"Your pain is interchangeable. You need to start thinking and stop whining. The Dragon is fighting a battle with herself. Either she wins or she dies. You need to mitigate the collateral damage. Become Hercules to her Titan. Start thinking and get yourself free. Only you can save her." The young girl chastised

"How? The bitch has me bound tighter then a -" Logan looked at the slight figure in front of him and revised what he was about to say "-Christmas ham."

The child shrugged and turned back into the darkness, making her way back across the room towards the basement stairs.

"Hey, don't leave me here! Where are you going?" Logan yelled, frustrated beyond measure by the riddles and half-truths the child had posed

"To watch the fireworks – I need to find a good seat. While Zeus is away the gods will play – and the entertainment is shaping up to be… illuminating."

…

Drachen watched from her tower as the Shade set the Ghost Girl above the crowd. She seemed just as insubstantial in daylight, the dappled sunlight of the back lawn making her even paler then she appeared by moonlight. The Shade was ordering her the speak, so the child repeated the prophesy that had give the New Brotherhood a power base from which to build, and damned the tiny seer to a lifetime of enslavement to the Cause.

"The burning flames of righteousness will consume the wicked and change the world." The young child said. A cry went up from the waiting mutants. The roar surging through the crowd and crashing over Drachen's tower like a wave.

"Mutants will rise, phoenix like from the ashes…" her whispered words were swallowed by the noise of the crowd. And what a crowd it was, the despised, the dispossessed and the downtrodden. The New Brotherhood seemed to be made up of those who were the most visually intimidating of mutants and they in turn seemed to be the most dedicated to the Cause. Drachen had to wonder in the small corner of her brain do taken over with her obsessive depression about her loss of Logan, if the X-Men hadn't in part _made_ their enemies. After all, without darkness then can be no light, and every White Wizard needs a Dark Horde to fight.

As prophecies went, it really wasn't much to build a battle on. The child hadn't said that they would win, only that 'Mutants would rise'. Drachen supposed that she should feel scared, disgusted, or angry at the game she'd been caught up in, a pawn in a fight that wasn't hers. She felt none of that. Only cold. The cold and the sucking blackness in her chest, where so long ago her heart had once been. She had said that she would die if he was gone. Well he was back, or his Shade was anyway and she _was_ dying, only it was by inches. The vortex of pain and misery was consuming her from the inside out. Soon there would be nothing left.

...

"Does it burn you, to know that she played the whore for me? I took her over and over and made her scream." The blue skinned shifter taunted

"When I get free of this cage…" Logan threatened, once again stretching his chains and bones to their limits, sheer rage overwhelming black despair.

"When you get free of this cage your precious Drachen will be dead, and all the X-Men along with her, not to mention a good portion of the state. We're bringing in a new world order. You should be thanking us." Mystique goaded with a smile.

"You'll thank me when I bury my claws in your guts – ending the pain I'm going to put you through when I'm free." Logan growled

"Promises, promises," Mystique laughed carelessly

"You'll be laughing out the other side of your face after I cut it off," Logan snarled, straining mightily against the chains that held him fast. Mystique made a show of looking at her wrist

"Oh look at the time, I think I'll be going." Mystique taunted, morphing into a mirror image of himself, "Your girlfriend needs me."

...

Drachen had tried to light the candles in her tower, but they had all melted into puddles at her feet. The creamy paraffin raising blisters on her cold bitten toes. Nothing was working right anymore. She was breaking down. Broken. Too broken to do more then shuffle through the days at the Mansion. Except she wasn't at the Mansion anymore, but the Manor. The Manor in the woods. And now the Mansion was only in her mind. And that wasn't working right either. But it was snowing there. And cold. The lights of her family winking out one by one as the winter stole their warmth, their light, their life. She was killing them in her mind, because they were already dead. They must be, if they hadn't visited her in this strange new place. They were dead and they'd left her to die too.

Drachen turned slowly at a noise by the door frame. It was rotting. Most of this place was, but she so often forgot, her mind filling in the details of what her eyes refused to see. It was her lover's Shade and Drachen smiled, the expression doing nothing to remove the haunted look from her eyes.

"My love. I haven't seen you in so long… have you come to warm me up?" Drachen said with a smile, moving away from the window and towards the shadowy figure in the doorway.

She was so cold….


	23. Chapter twenty three

Disclaimer: I don't own the recognizable characters or places mentioned in this obvious work of fiction.

OMG IS THIS AN UPDATE!? Why yes it is…

I hadn't forgotten (I love you guys too much to do that) – but life, miserable life, tends to get in the way. I've changed jobs twice and am currently working in a foreign country, which is slowing things down somewhat. The final chapter of this story is almost complete (I'm going to add a few scenes to the beginning), and is simply waiting to be posted. After it's completion I plan to tweak a few of the initial chapters that have spelling and continuity errors (as pointed out by some of my loyal reviewers), and then we will be done. Wow. It's a concept that until a few years ago would have been rather foreign to me. I hope you've enjoyed the ride, and those who have held on through my lack of updating, many moves, and increasingly longer bouts of depression – I thank you. This one's for you!

* * *

"Have you found her?" Marie demanded, entering the Professor's study unannounced. The adults gathered there looked up at her words, their faces showing their varying levels of discomfort and disapproval. Whether their expressions stemmed from the topic at hand or Marie's unannounced entrance remained to be seen.

"I am not sure. There are a surprising number of mutants with similar gifts in the United States, including our erstwhile Pyro." The Professor tried to explain to his one time pupil. With the completion of the school year Marie was no longer a high-school student, and despite her wayward powers she had applied to join the X-Team. She had no desire to go to college or to continue her one time cross-country road trip. And she had wanted to help. Currently she and the rest of her close-knit group were on 'probation' as Junior X-Men.

"We are making investigations into a larger then normal assembly of mutants in the North. But as of yet our intelligence remains unconfirmed. " Scott said

"She has to be there. She has to be. There's nowhere else left to search." The brown haired young woman said, voice tight.

"Now I know you think you saw sometime that night Marie, but-" Jean began

"I know what I saw." Marie said coolly, cutting off Jean's attempt at dismissing her memory of that night. "And if you both-" her cutting glance took in Scott's visored form "-had begun searching for her immediately then maybe she'd be back with us now."

"Now Marie-" Scott began, in an attempt to defend his previous decision

"Don't ya' dare 'Now Marie' me!" The southern belle snapped, her accent thickening with her annoyance "She's ma friend, an' your student! An' it's your fault she's gone!" she snapped, turning on Jean.

"Now that's unfair-" began Scott as the rest of the teachers shifted uncomfortably in their seats. Marie took a deep breath and tried to choke down her anger

"Is it?" she asked in a slightly calmer tone of voice, not even bothering to address her response to her team leader, staring instead straight at his wife "You picked and you meddled until they were at odds with each other. Then after Logan was gone you just had to keep picking! You should have left well enough alone and let us handle it!"

"We felt it best to intervene where we could in an effort to save the poor child from herself," the Professor cut in, attempting to sooth the situation. Marie's eyes darkened with pain

"Well look how well that turned out." She whispered, before turning on her heel and leaving the office.

…..

"Hey, um Rouge?" Marie looked up from copying Bobby's History notes to find Vision, who was in her advanced English class, standing by the doors.

"Hey Vis." she said, trying to think of a reason that the younger girl could have sought their group out. Coming up blank she asked, "Can ah help you with something?"

"No – but I think I can help you." Vision said nervously, hands twisting in front of her. Jubilee, always willing to be distracted from schoolwork, gestured the slightly younger girl to one of the empty lounge chairs in what had become 'their' study nook.

"Oh?" Marie asked encouragingly and ignoring Bobby's raised eyebrow. It wasn't beyond the realm of possibility after all – perhaps the girl could help them. Though with what exactly Marie wasn't sure.

"I'm having dreams." The young girl whispered, head bent forward over her lap "I keep dreaming of fire, and darkness," Bobby now looked more concerned the incredulous.

"Have you spoken to the Professor about them?" he asked softly. The younger girl shook her head

"Well, it might be an idea-" Bobby continued.

"Your friend is in them." The girl said urgently, interrupting the brown haired boy "The one who was with Logan. And she's burning…"

Half an hour later and their little group had been joined by Piotr and Kitty as well as another student by the name of Sketch. Young Vision had struggled to describe her dreams accurately, so Jubilee had gone hunting Sketch, who had agreed to draw Vision's dreams in return for Jubilee's class notes for the rest of the semester. For ALL of her classes. A sharp look from Marie had Jubilee agreeing to his demands despite her complaints of extortion. Now the motley group sat around the dark haired boy as he completed sketch upon sketch, some moving silently, black and white movies trapped on paper, and others sharp in their stillness.

"There." Marie said breathlessly. She was pointing to a picture recently completed that showed a crumbling mansion surrounded by pine trees. In the distance a jagged mountain range reached for the sky.

"Um, Maree?" Jubilee said, her voice thick with worry

"Yeah," Maree said, eyes still fixed on the sketch. Jubilee pointed to the far corner of the paper, where a mass of faces, all different, but all wearing dark looks were gathered. A figure that was clearly Drachen stood alone on a platform above the crowd. She was smiling.

"Look at all those people. They look…" Jubilee began before she trailed off

"Like the Brotherhood," Bobby cut in, not bothering to mince words

"They can look like the President for all I care. They have Drake. An' we are gunna get her back." Marie said firmly

"How do we know she's not there willingly," Bobby asked, voicing a concern he had held close to his chest since Drake had first arrived among them "She was always a bit wild, and-"

"How can you even say that Bobby?" Marie demanded, outraged.

"I'm just saying what we're all thinking. She was upset, she is-"

"Our friend. Always. Our friend. And I for one am not gunna leave her there." Marie said with an air of finality. None of the group heard the approach of the white-haired weather witch until she spoke

"It is likely she has joined the Brotherhood, especially from the looks of that," the older woman gestured to the frozen sketch "She has chosen her side." Storm said with an air of finality, interrupting the heated conversation going on between the Junior X-Men, plus Vision.

"She would never have gone over to them willingly. Never. She hated the Brotherhood and all they stood for." Rouge protested vehemently. "They killed her family!"

"We can't just go running off-" Bobby began, trying to remain the voice of reason, even if it put him at odds with his girlfriend.

"No one is doing anything." Storm said with an air of finality "The Professor has this matter well under control," she said, before turning and leaving the room. Bobby looked vindicated, but Marie was livid, and refused to meet his eyes.

"They must have stolen her and done something to her mind!" Jubilee exclaimed in the silence, refusing to believe that her friend could have gone over to the Darkside. She wasn't like Pyro. She wasn't selfish; she didn't want glory and power. She was good. She was their friend. Marie threw her a grateful look before her eyes settle once more on the pile of sketches on the floor

"Then we'll damn well steal her back." Marie said darkly, before she smiled "I have a plan."

* * *

He was dreaming. He knew he was dreaming. Opening his eyes he watched Drachen settle herself on the other side of the fire. They were camping out overnight, working their way along the unending stretches of road as they steadily made their way back to Westchester. The air was cold on his body and he watched as Drachen suppressed a shiver.

"Do you think its going snow?" She asked timidly. He laughed, and felt himself answer in the negative

"It's nowhere near cold enough, kid." He said, a smile in his voice.

"I wouldn't know. I mean – I've never seen snow. Ever winter we'd go somewhere warm. My mother couldn't abide the cold." The whispered confession was so low that only Logan's enhanced feral senses caught the words.

"You've never seen snow?" Logan felt him self ask incredulously. On the other side of the fire the girl twitched. Not expecting Logan to have heard her softly spoken words, and definitely not expecting him to answer her.

"Nope. Never." Drachen confessed, embarrassed.

"Well, you stick we me kid, and I guarantee you'll see snow this winter." Logan felt himself chuckle as he closed his eyes…

Logan woke to find the seer child standing before him, her skin ghost pale in the darkness. She looked… disappointed.

"You're running out of time." She whispered sadly. "Ragnarock is coming while you live in your dreams."

"Stop talking in riddles!" Logan growled, voice breaking over the last word. The child remained silent, but gave him a _look_. Like he was a particularly stubborn pet and she had expected better from him.

"I have done all I can for you both. The pigeons have flown, but their good tidings will not return in time to save us." She said finally, looking, for once, a little forlorn.

"I don't know what you want me to do." Logan finally confessed, voice a defeated sound in the darkness. Long days in captivity as well as Mystique's taunts that were becoming more graphic by the day, were taking their toll on him.

He always lost the things he loved most…

"I want you to think instead of fight." The small child said in an exasperated tone.

"It's not really my strong suit." Logan answered, eyes low and fixed on the concrete floor of his cell, thoughts dark and still with despair

"Well, you have less then two days to make it your only suit." The girl said, moving back into the darkness "So I suggest you get to it."

Logan remained in his position of defeat for hours, head hung low he was the closest to true despair he'd been. For all the experiments, the enhancements that he had endured, but was unable to remember, not a one of them was able to aid him now. Mystique had known his weaknesses and had no difficulties in taking him down. He had been bound in adamantium chains, and all his straining and heaving had not bent a single link. The chains were bolted to the floor with adamantium plates, the screws being shallow headed and sitting below the surface of the metal. The floor was -

The screws.

Dropping to his knees Logan cautiously sniffed the plate and was rewarded by the faint scent of bitterness.

Steel.

Until now all of Logan's frustration had been focused on the links of his adamantium chains and the adamantium cuffs that bound his wrists. He had failed to think any further on his other bindings. But this small oversight on the part of his captors may have changed everything. With a new determination Logan set to work on his bonds, this time focusing his energy on the plates to which his unbreakable chains were anchored. He had two days t find Drake and get her free of this place. Two days. He wouldn't fail again.

* * *

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Jubilee whispered from the passenger seat of the black Porsche. Scott's current pride and joy - aside from Jean of course.

"Yes." Marie answered firmly "Absolutely." She took a deep breath as she settled more comfortably into the driver's seat. They were going to do this. They were going to find Drake and they were going to bring her home.

"But if we steal the car, how are they gunna find us?" Jubilee asked, buckling her seat-belt despite her doubtful tone

"GPS. All of the Mansion's cars have them. If we get into trouble we just have to push the distress button and activate the GPS. The team can lock onto the coordinates with the jet and come and get us." _All of us_ Marie added silently.

"_If_ we get into trouble?" Jubilee asked, her voice high and edged with a hint of panic.

"You don't have to come." Marie snapped, more harshly then she had intended. She would do this alone if she had to.

"Are you kidding?" Jubilee said, reaching over and squeezing Marie's hand "You're my best friend. I wouldn't miss this for the world. Besides, fighting along side you is a whole lot less dangerous then what would happen to me if I stayed behind." Marie turned confused eyes to her best friend, who simply raised a single eyebrow before she continued speaking "Scott is gunna shit bricks when he finds out you took his favorite car." Jubilee clarified, her smile rather more demonic then the occasion called for.

"Borrowed." An accented masculine voice corrected, leaning against Marie's open window and causing both girls to jump. Marie let out an undignified squeak.

"I have told out esteemed teachers that I am accompanying you to shopping. They have given us permission to take two of the pool cars." Jubilee gave Piotr an electric smile.

"So now we have more of a window to get up north before they find out that we're gone."

"Exactly." Kitty popped her head out from behind Piotr's bulky form

"You guys, you don't-" Marie began, beginning to realise what she was drawing her friends into.

"Of course we must." Piotr interrupted

"Drachen is our friend too," Kitty said firmly, finishing Piotr's sentence. Marie took a deep breath

"Then let's go." She said, quickly leaning forward and pushing the ignition button. Piotr and Kitty gave her brief nods and with determined expressions they moved towards one of the other sports cars. It would be speed over comfort on this trip. Marie tried not to wince. Scott really was going to kill them. But if they got Drachen back, then it really didn't matter.

Just as she was about to put her foot on the accelerator and lead their clandestine rescue mission out of the garage and down the long drive, the back door of the coupe opened. Both girls jumped again, and Jubilee swore a blue streak, sparks jumping across her fisted fingers.

"Bobby what the hell!?" Jubilee snapped, turning sharply around in her seat

"Thought you weren't coming?" Marie said as calmly as she could manage. She was still angry about their earlier disagreement. Truthfully she was more then angry – she was hurt. He was her boyfriend, and Drachen's friend. Her was supposed to be on their side. Bobby leaned forward into the front of the car and deposited two sketches in Marie's lap. One was a moving picture that showed Drachen standing above the crowd, kissing –

"What the hell?" Marie asked, eyes snapping up to meet Bobby's. Hands clutching the paper tightly

"Yeah, that's what I said." Bobby said, his expression serious as he looked at her shocked face

"At least we know how they got her to come with them now," Jubilee said softly, plucking the moving sketch from Marie's frozen hands "Poor Drachen." In the image Drachen was kissing a figure that was clearly Logan inside what appeared to be a cloud of some sort. The girls couldn't quite make out what the haze was supposed to be. Picking up the forgotten second sketch from Marie's lap Jubilee let out an excited squeal.

"Bobby you're brilliant!" The dark haired girl exclaimed. Bobby blushed slightly and smiled

"I thought it might be useful." He said

"What is it?" Marie asked, shaking herself back to reality.

"A map that leads straight to their door," Jubilee crowed. Marie leaned over and grabbed the map from Jubilee's hands, eyes scanning the hand drawn map hungrily.

"Call Piotr and Kitty once we're on the road. We'll give them directions as we go." Marie checked her seat belt and pulled the car out of the garage and onto the drive.

"Despite my actions to the contrary, I just want to go on record as saying that this plan officially sucks." Bobby added from the depths of the back seat, as Marie accelerated down the drive. Looking at his expression in the rear view mirror Marie smiled

"Noted. Now belt up."


End file.
